Boris Christoff: Death scene of Boris Godunov - part II of II

part II of II: Here is the Bulgarian bass performing the death scene from Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov". Filmed in London, 1959.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• boris
• christoff
• bulgaria
• bass

[Bivolari]

A Boris like no other.No one quite chewed the scenery like Christoff. Although I recall seeing him sing the Death Scene in concert, standing in front of the orchestra in a tux. He barely moved. He was riveting.

[Spiritakis]

Shattering! As always. Ironically, Boris was accused of absolutely the same thing as Shaliapin had been a generation or two before: too much realism, histrionics, hammy. But this is missing the point. One must remember that Boris Godunov doesn't die of a trivial heart attack - thousands die that way each year. The ill-fated Russian tsar dies of guilty conscience - and that is something exceedingly rare. Therefore it requires extreme intensity in performance.

Thanks a lot for posting!

[elainebmack]

@spiritakis. Well put. Very insightful comments.

[Catwink41]

This is such an honor to hear this....never ever saw this opera.I think I must look to see if there is a DVD somewhere of this. Thank you SO much.

[Catwink41]

@Spiritakis Well said. Bravo for your comment.