Laserdisc Title: "KHOVANSHCHINA - THE BOLSHOI OPERA (MUSSORGSKY'S"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single-Disc)
Conductor: Yuri Simonov
Actors: Yevgeni Nesterenko, Irina Arkhipova, Alexander Devernikov, Eggenu Raikov, Vladislav Romanovsky
Production / Year: 1993 Or
Running Time: 172 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: --Russian Language, Subtitled in English--
Distributed By: Pioneer Artists
Catalog / Spine Number: PA-90-016

IMPORTANT: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very minor hairline surface swirls, if any
Jacket: Very Good - Normal shelf wear, few creases, slightly worn-out corners or edges and a small split middle of bottom spine

Synopsis:

Khovanshina is an opera that you can not understand unless you see it a few times. The opera has three different forces, all of which are political opponents, but they unite against the reforms of tsar Peter I. The best vocal performance comes from Nesterenko. He is the best Dosifey since Mark Reyzen. His Dosifey is not a sweet-voiced preast, nor a humble monk. In Nesterenko, Dosifey becomes a great force, who virtualy scares away all of his opponents. During the final sceene, Nesterenko seems to be so sure about the mass burning, that you get his feeling to. Arkhipova is also a great Marfa, but her appearance is not exactly one of a young girl, who has fallen into religion. Raikov is a good Golitsin and Romanovskiy is a liric Shaklovitiy. Andryuschenko is not the best Andrey khovanskiy, but Miglau and Vlasov are both outstanding as Emma and the Scribe. Aleksandr Vedernikov seems to be the best Ivan Khovanskiy on video. He does not sing as well as he plays, but Khovanskiy is a role where dramatical abbilities of a singer are more importaint, than his vocalism. Yuriy Simonov conducts with style. The production of Leonid Baratov has perhaps lost some dramatism after the death of the director. The Sets by Feodor Fedorovskiy are magnificent. His Khvonshina (and Boris Godunov) has the best operatic sets I ever saw.

Modeste Mussorgsky drank himself to death in his early 40's, leaving nothing but the vocal score to this magnificent, positively sprawling cornerstone of Russian culture. Aside from one short strophic song in Act 3, Mussorgsky's ideas about the orchestral scoring of Khovanshchina were left to chance. This production presents the version of Mussorgsky's friend and mentor Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: one of the most phenomenal misappropriations of opera history. The two composers could not have been more dissimilar - Rimsky-Korsakov failed utterly and completely to understand Mussorgsky's revolutionary genius, thus confusing the public for Khovanshchina as well, first in Russia, where the Rimsky-Korsakov version was standard for decades, and later in the West. The version is full of musically alien Germanisms and too precious dramatic "moments," woefully lacking in long-range tension and the kind of penetrating psychology that is the essence of Mussorgsky. About this video there is a critical, three-pronged allure. It is the tension between the soaringly FABULOUS vocalism of the soloists, the grandeur of the production (especially the costumes), and the patchy version of the score, probably responsible for the out-dated notion that Khovanshchina is too epic for its own good. (Just listen to Shostakovich's later orchestration - a huge success in comparison.) Yevgeni Nesterenko as Dosifei is a force of nature - simply awe-inspiring. Irina Arkhipova (recently her role in the Soviet government has been revealed - suffice it to say her colleagues should have been terrified of her political influence) sings Marfa with bravura but maintains an unbecoming haughtiness throughout. Truly world-class singing from the other soloists and the chorus reinforces that, for melomanes, Russophiles, and indeed almost all music lovers, this a video not to miss.

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