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BORIS GODUNOV

--Standard Repertory--

By Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

VIDEO: Decca video with Robert Lloyd, Olga Borodina; Kirov, Valery Gergiev conducting; rec. 1990; dir. Andrei Tarkovsky; running time, 210 min.; 2 videotapes. London 440 071 509-3 LH2; $44.99 A thrilling visual, musical and dramatic roller-coaster; brooding and tense presentation of this opera; finer than any AUDIO rec. that I've yet heard! [G.R.]

AUDIO: A) ERATO: Ruggero Raimondi, Galina Vishnevskaya, Rostropovich conducting; solid, exciting effort, one or two artistic inequalities but dominated by arguably the finest Boris of his generation; Kirov video still Number One [G.R.]

B) PHILIPS: Nikolai Putilin/Vladimir Vaneev, Olga Borodina, Gergiev conducting; rare achievement encompassing both the 1869 version (CDs 1-2) and the 1872 version (CDs 3-5); although both Putilin (1869) and Vaneev (1872) are very fine, they do not dominate the way a Lloyd or a Raimondi do; still, they complement just about the most satisfying ensemble ever recorded in Mussorgsky's original orchestration. [PLUS you get BOTH versions for the price of 3 CDs!]

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