Boris Godunov

This famous opera has had a chequered performance history, and Professor Laurel E. Fay, in an illuminating musical analysis, points out that the interpretation of the opera depends very much on which edition is used. Robert Oldani introduces the 'Boris problem': Pushkin's play was not an obvious choice for a young composer, since it had been banned from performance for forty years, and it is the Russian people, rather than any single character, who is the protagonist. Mussorgsky forged his own text and created a legendary masterwork; Alex de Jonge examines its uniquely Russian character and notes the unsettling parallels of the history of old Russia with today. Nigel Osborne's comparison of the Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky versions highlights their individual qualities.