Reviews for
GHCD 2206 Boris Godunov

The 4 July 1928 Covent Garden excerpts of Chaliapin’s Boris Godounov have appeared in various guises before. Indeed it was the appearance of an LP, RLS742, with the preserved sides and a subsequent review that spurred Richard Caniell to exercise his judgement with regard to the complexities regarding the lack of the Pimen scene in Act IV. The fact that it was lacking meant that an interpolation was necessary to ensure narrative flow, since this was the raison d’être of Guild’s production. Twenty-one sides were recorded by HMV in 1928. The EMI LP released, for the first time, the Pilgrim’s Chorus from the prologue but Boris’s I am oppressed was damaged, as Caniell notes, and a later Chaliapin recording of this, with Albert Coates, was substituted "reshaping the sonics to match that of Covent Garden" to quote Caniell. The main point of contention concerns the Pimen passage, which is missing, as is the orchestral section which leads to Boris’ Farewell. An interpolation, in Italian, by Nicola Moscona has been used instead, elsewhere provisionally identified as a New York Metropolitan performance. Richard Caniell has stated his position on this and other matters in a long letter to this site and I would draw readers’ attention to it.

Irrespective of the complications implicit in this kind of restoration the sound on this Guild disc is truly excellent and the voices emerge with fidelity. Chaliapin’s voice saw surprisingly little deterioration in quality of colour and depth in the years between the first decade of the century and the early thirties; it remained the noble and powerfully expressive instrument it always had been, allied to his remarkable skills of impersonation. The characterization of Boris was complete in its variety and depth. The otherwise near-all Italian cast was a strong one – notably the buffo Baccaloni. Lavretzky incidentally was sung by Dennis Noble. The orchestra is on notably well-behaved form, responding fluidly to the direction of Vincenzo Bellezza. He is a forgotten figure now but was a major conductor and had worked with Chaliapin in 1926 – recording with him as well. His discography is pitifully small but this Boris goes some way to demonstrating why he was held in such esteem – his rehearsals were meticulous even if his English was idiosyncratic. He died in 1964 and this will remain probably his lasting – if incomplete, necessarily imperfect – memorial. Documentation is good, in Guild’s now accustomed livery, and the problems set out with clarity, though the exact provenance of Moscona’s scene is not disclosed.       Jonathan Woolf

Msusorgsky: Boris Godunov (Extracts) Margherita Carlos (sop) Feodor, Dino Borgioli (ten) Dimitri Angelo Bada(ten) Shuisky; Octave Dua (ten) Simpleton;Giuseppe Nessi (ten) Missail; Aristide Baracci (bar) Schenkelkalov Chernikosvky (bar) Lavitzky;
Feodor Chaliapin (bs)Boris
Nicola Moscona (bs) {Pirmen)
Salvatore Baccaloni (bs)Varlaam
Royal Opera House Chorus & Orchestra/ Vincenzo Bellezza

This famous performance is so much taken for granted that recently it has been possible to obtain only Chaliapin’s scenes; and producer Richard Caniell has here assembled more of it than we have ever heard before. Much though not all, of what he has done is detailed in the notes, Suffice it to say that he has brought us the Prelude and opening chorus, previously heard by only a hand full of , as well as three rale sides including the Revolutionary Scene. The Act IV scene with the Boyars and Shuisky, unissued at the time, is familiar to Chaliapin collectors; but Caniell has borrowed a Pirmen monologue (from a MET performance?) to fill in an important gap. In the Prologue he has joined up the live Coronation Scene to the relevant portions of the studio recording conducted by Coates. For myself, the result has been to raise my opinion of Bellezza’s conducting and the excellent Covent Garden Chorus even further. It has also been fascinating to hear Chaliapin’s contribution in a fuller context.

Comming back to this legendary portrayal after not hearing it for a time. I tried to analyse why Chaliapin was so revered. His voice was itself a distinctive instrument, a little weak in the lower register- even the low F was not really ‘in the voice’- but with real bass resonance in the lower-middle and middle ranges and a resounding top register which enabled him to handle the tessitura of the Rimsky Korsakov arrangement of Boris. Then there was his uncanny control. His singing of the bel canto repertoire was singular, to say the least, yet his technique involved many of the basic verities. His command of crescendo, diminuendo and morendo was absolute and his pianissimo always had ‘body’. His legato was like that of a fine cellist – only Pasquale Amato comes to mind as havint the same quality – with beautiful intonation,. Chaliapin told the character bass Pavel Zhuravlenko that in his youth he had often sung out of tune and had worked fanatically to pieces with narrow intervals from the bel canto repertoire in order to rid himself of this fault. Here, in the heat of performance, we can hear how the rr year-old singer used this intuitive knowledge of technique in the cause of his art. Freed from the tyranny of 78rpm side lengths that hampers some of his studio records, he can spread himself and spin out the phrase as the spontaneity of the moment dictates. Boris’s Prayer and Death are mesmerising because the vocal line carries such a change of intensity. The Act II Monologue is similarly involving and the Clock Scene shows us the more extrovert performer whose acting was so acclaimed.

The rest of the cast – singing in Italian, as was the custom of the day – includes several stalwarts of La Scala, although only Nessi sang his role there. He and Baccaloni make a characterful pair in the Revolutionary Scene, where Dino Borgioli’s voice rings out with surprising volume as Dimitri. Bada, a famous Shuisky, is robbed of his scene with Boris – the master was damaged – but comes across well, as does Octave Dua as the Simpleton. Moscona’s is nothing special and in a 20-page booklet we are not told the provenance of his scene, or who the Boris is who can be heard exclaiming and collapsing at the end of his narrative. The cast list on the back inlay is a disgrace, grabling characters- ‘Lavretzky’ Tcheraiakovsky’ – and theie interpreters.’Corosio’ and Astride Barrachi’ Luigi Manfrini is listed as Pirmen although he is not heard. . The recording itself could be clearer and more forward. Feodor Challiapin on Stage (Preiser 89965) gets much bolder sound out of the protagonist’s scenes, although the effect is slightly spoilt by added resonance. For all its limitations of sound and presentation, this Guild compilation is riveting listening                                                                                                                                     TULLY POTTER

Classical Music on the Net Monday January 28 2002

Modest MOUSSORGSKY (1839-1881)
Boris Godounov (Rimsky edition)
Prologue, Scenes from Acts 2 and 3, Act 4. Sung in Italian.
Immortal Performances Series.
Boris: Feodor Chaliapin (bass), Varlaam: Salvatore Baccaloni (bass), Dimitri: Dino Borgioli (ten), Pimen: Nicola Moscana: (bass)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, London/ Vincenzo Belleza.
Rec. Live performance July 4th 1928 (plus interpolations)
GUILD HISTORICAL GHCD2206 [72.14]

This series, launched in January 2002, aims to be "The Finest in Broadcast Recording". The majority of the first releases, and I suspect many of those in future, derive from NBC broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, dating from the 1930s and 1940s. This is an early exception and is of a very famous performance featuring (and dominated by) the great Feodor Chaliapin in the name part. In a booklet note, the progenitor of the series, Richard Caniell, states that 21 masters were made of the performance. However, he lists only 20, giving DB or Vic numbers and noting those damaged, never released, as well as those issued on 78s. This information seems too derive from Keith Hardwick, widely recognised as the great miner, and restorer, of the E.M.I. archive, and consultant to this series. Where no master was made, as in the case of Pimen's narrative in Act 4, in the interests of completion, an interpolation has been made from another recording; in this case one also sung in Italian by Nicola Moscana. Where the master was damaged, Caniell has inserted (as in " I am oppressed" from the Prologue) an extract from the 1931 recording under Albert Coates.

The reason for all the effort in bringing forward this issue is the presence of Chaliapin, who was described by Toscanini as the greatest singer ever to appear under his baton. Also a very great actor, he could distort his vocal performance to suit his interpretation (Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust). Born in 1873, he first sang Boris in 1898 and was aged 55 at the time of this recording. None-the-less it is his vocal performance that dominates this CD, which includes all Boris' arias and scenes. Chaliapin's voice is strong and full toned albeit lacking some of the sap that is to be discerned, despite recording limitations, in earlier recordings, examples of which can be found on EMI References CDH 761009. What made Chaliapin arguably the greatest singer of the century was his capacity to convey a character in all moods and few characters in opera are as complex in this respect than Czar Boris. The way Chaliapin colours and covers his tone, and varies the stress on the words, brings the Czars' many moods to life.

The other parts are all well sung with the buffo bass of his time, Baccaloni, giving Varlaam plenty of presence and character. The recording has good orchestral sound and the conductor supports his singers well. In order not to lose vocal and instrumental overtones, it is the policy of the series not to remove clicks etc. Whilst some such noises are present (tr .1 2'50"), I did not find these to be excessive or disturbing. It must have been a memorable night at the opera!

The booklet provides a synopsis with track points, as well as notes on Chaliapin and source and restoration details. Robert J Farr