User Reviews

Some of the musical themes are absolutely haunting in this masterpiece. Modest Mussorgsky, has been overlooked, in my opinion, during the past half century.

Maybe the story matter of the opera is difficult to identify with in our present age. Perhaps, this is regrettable in its own right. But, the shear beauty of the music is enough to make one listen to something extraordinary.

This Austrian production with an outstanding cast of top vocalists from Russia and Eastern Europe in all the leading roles and an orchestra par excellent is a must to behold.

Dag Stomberg

I love this production of Khovanshchina. The assassination scene is a little clumsy and disappointing in the staging and the stage direction ranges from sensual and evocative(Dance of the Persian slaves and the rally) to static(some of those for the chorus), however everything else is wonderful.

Khovanshchina is a fine opera. It lacks the tightness of Boris Godunov perhaps, but it is a subtle and mature work with some of Mussorgsky's most beautiful and haunting music and vivid characters.

The costumes and sets are marvellously evocative, with the sets appropriately surrealistic complete with disturbing imagery and the costumes incredible. Technically the production is excellent too, the video directing is great and very interesting and the lighting and sound are terrific.

The orchestra play the music with real sincerity and Claudio Abbado's conducting is brilliant making the most of the ethereal strings to the dark basses representing the Kohvanskys and their conflicts. The chorus's staging are static, but they sing and act as well as they can.

The singing and acting are superb. Nicolai Ghiaurov may be past prime, but he still manages to give a powerful and moving performance. Vladmir Atlantov is excellent too and makes the most of his difficult tessitura. Ludmilla Sentchuk is a beautifully sung and alluring Marfa and Heinz Zednik is fantastic as well as Paata Burchuladze. Stealing the show with a tremendous basso voice and genuinely frightening acting skills particularly in his great act 3 aria is Anatoly Kotcherga as Shaklovity.

Overall, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox