Metropolitan Opera Archives

Boris Godunov received twelve performances this season.

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Review 1:

Barymore Laurence Scherer in unidentified publication
The Met's first “Boris Godunov” of the season was equally mixed, the ragged appearance of the 16-year-old sets matched by the ragged ensemble under the Bulgarian conductor Emil Tchakarov. To be sure, Tchakarov had been engaged virtually at the last minute to replace Evgeni Svetlanov (who had to bow out when he discovered a scheduling conflict). In the title-role, the Georgian bass Paata Burchuladze had to contend not only with the ghost of the murdered Tsarevich Dmitri, but with the shade of the late Martti Talvela, around whose moving portrayal the production was originally created. In brief, the apparent sincerity of Burchuladze's work fails to offset his limitations, though the Times critic Donal Henahan praised the "convincing heft and rotundity of the voice itself,” and while many regard Burchuladze as worthy heir to the mantle of Chaliapin, Kipnis and Pinza. I fail to hear what all the fuss is about.

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