Boris Godunov(Ver.1859 & 1872): Gergiev / Kirov Opera

This set includes both the 1869 and 1872 versions.
For those aware of the Shakespearean dramatic scope and transcendent musical modernism of Modest Mussorgsky's historical opera 'Boris Godunov,' there can never be too much of it, even when it's boxed here as two complete versions: the 1869 opera in four parts, and the much longer 1872 opera in a prologue and four acts. All that's missing are Rimsky-Korsakov's two sets of orchestrations and embellishments of his friend's work. There's ample evidence here of Mussorgsky's own skill as an orchestrator, as well as his dynamic choral writing, probing sense of character, evocative love of Slavic folk and liturgical musics, and uncanny mastery of mood.
There are, of course, more of all these elements in Mussorgsky's longer version, but the composer had cut a lovely song for the Tsar's daughter and some interesting interactions between Boris and the spooky, scheming Shuisky (wonderfully realized here by tenor Konstantin Pluzhnikov) which can be heard in this rare recording of the 1869 score. Valery Gergiev and the fine Kirov Opera make use of two different Borises. Vladimir Vaneev, in the 1872 version, is somewhat emotionally fuller, evoking the powerful Tsar's underlying and ultimately fatal guilt and fear.