Opernhaus Zürich (live streaming), 26/09/2020
Mussorgsky : Boris Godunov
Philharmonia Zürich
Kirill Karabits
The idea of staging Boris Godunov without its chorus is inconceivable. The chorus in Boris is a character in its own right, utterly vital to the very fabric of the opera. Yet this is the gamble Zürich Opera has taken to start of their new season, and streamed live today free-of-charge via their website. What they have done is not dissimilar to what Scottish Opera did with their Bohème a few weeks ago, but on a much more ambitious scale. Chorus and orchestra play in a rehearsal 'room' - more like a warehouse, from the images shown - a kilometre away, and the sound is piped into the opera house via fibre-optic cable and heard through large speakers that appear to be taking the place of the orchestra in the pit, and carefully balanced via a soundboard with the soloists performing on stage. It's a tour de force of technology, and it works remarkably well, there's no perceptible lag, only the odd slip in timing such as you might well get in a regular performance. I can't imagine what it actually sounded like in the house, but for someone watching via transmission, the overall result is startlingly convincing. There are two issues where it doesn't work so well; the first is that the balance within the chorus doesn't always seem quite right, with the top lines a little thin, and the second, in an opera where there's quite a lot of off-stage choral work, that distanced effect is almost completely lost.
The staging is by Barrie Kosky. The Prologue and first two acts are set amongst warehouse shelves - think Ikea's storage space, but instead of flat-pack boxes of furniture, the shelves are filled with document boxes. Tables stacked high with books and folders occupy the floor, and both tables and shelving racks can be moved around to form different types of space. The drab grey of these scenes is interrupted by the gaudiness of the Polish act, a gilded backdrop and many chairs set out across the stage, and a masked 'chorus' (extras, or perhaps some of the corps of the Zürich Opera Ballet) making a brief appearance in colourful, glittering dresses.
The absent chorus is represented throughout by a wide-eyed young man in a colourful long cardigan, who turns out to the the Innocent of the later acts, and in fact he opens the proceedings, with an a cappella performance of his lament right at the start of the opera, invisible amongst the stacks of books, and his voice appearing to come from a "talking" book, a book on its side, cover opening and closing in time, like something out of a cartoon. During the two scenes of the Prologue, a whole line of these books 'sings' the chorus parts; the effect is somewhat risible, it has to be said, but Kosky is making a point about history and its recording, into which Pimen, for example, fits very nicely. Dress is a bit all over the place. Dmitri wears a modern suit in the first half, but Marina has a golden Empire gown. However, it's a somewhat stiff production, and it's not until the scene at the Inn, and the explosive Varlaam of Alexei Bortnaciuc that the show really comes to life. It would undoubtedly be very strange to have the last act, with two big choral scenes, at the Douma, and in Kromy Forest, on a completely bare stage, nothing but a gigantic bell visible, so Kosky, in the former, at least brings the extras on again in a solemn, and socially distanced, procession. I do think that opening the proceedings with the Innocentt's Lament was a mistake, it took away from the immense power of that desolate little song right at the end.
Boris presents multiple problems in the editorial sense, and I don't actually know which edition Zürich is using here. It's the later version, of course, considering it has the Polish act, but I think it's mostly Mussorgsky's original orchestration, and there were certainly some less familiar passages, or omissions, notably in Act 2. Karabits and the orchestra give a persuasive reading, in any event, lyrical and flowing, with particularly warm winds.
Once the performance came to life, the soloists were excellent. Michael Volle, taking up the role for the first time, is not the usual bass that one is accustomed to, he's more of a bass-baritone, but there's no difficulty with the register, and he brings a different range of colours to the part, less metallic, softer-grained. He's also a particularly good actor, his Boris is deeply felt and very human. Bortnaciuc, as mentioned earlier, is an excellent Varlaam, a completely convincing drunkard, robust and rumbustious. Johannes Martin Kränzle is an outstanding Rangoni, a hot-eyed zealot quivering with fervour, repulsive and compelling, just on the right side of obscene, wrapping his characterful baritone coaxingly around his sinuous musical lines.
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| Oksana Volkova and Johannes Martin Kränzle Boris Godunov, Zürich Opera (© Monika Rittershaus, 2020) |
Edgaras Montvidas has a startlingly similar fervour to his Dmitri, and delivers vocally on every point. Oksana Volkova is a gilded sex-kitten of a Marina, not quite as seductive vocally as she is visually, but attractive enough all the same. It's very nice to have a treble as Fyodor, especially one of this quality, Mika Mainone, one of the Tolzer Boys' Chorus. John Daszak, very much at home as always in the Russian repertory, is a steely-eyed and steely-voiced Shuisky, Brindley Sherratt a sound Pimen, atmospheric and surprisingly manipulative in his last scene.
There were a lot of things in this production I didn't especially like, or didn't understand - why have the Innocent sing Dmitri's lines in the final scene? - but there's no doubt that it's a real accomplishment in these difficult times, and musically it was very strong, a credit to the house.
[Next : 27th September]