OT - new Reggie (non-Wagner) recording

[Nicholas G]

https://www.pristineclassical.com/paco123.html

BORIS CHRISTOFF Sings Boris Godunov, London 1961 - PACO123

CAST

Boris - Boris Christoff
Grigory (False Dmitry) - Edgar Evans
Marina - Margreta Elkins
Pimen - Joseph Rouleau
Varlaam - Michael Langdon
Shuisky - John Lanigan
Missail - David Tree
Fyodor - Josephine Veasey
Xenia - Jeannette Sinclair
Hostess - Edith Coates
Simpleton - Robert Bowman
Tchelkalov - David Ward
Krushchov - Thomas Fletcher
Nurse - Noreen Berry
Nikitich - Robert Savoie
Mityukha - Ronald Lewis
Lavitsky - Ronald Lewis
Cherniovsky - Rhydderch Davies

Covent Garden Opera Chorus, chorus master: Douglas Robinson
Members of the George Green Grammar School, trained by Kathleen Robson
The Covent Garden Orchestra, leader Charles Taylor

Reginald Goodall, conductor

Broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, 10th June, 1961 from Covent Garden, London

[Bert Coules]

Thanks for that. I wonder what the sound quality's like? It's a shame that
it's not one of the performances with Remedios as Grigory - the spectacle of
him entering on horseback is one that's stayed with me extremely vividly.
And he sang it well, too. Christoff was magnificent.

Bert

[Bert Coules]

"A pity it's not one of the LATER performances..." is what I meant to write.
Apologies. Though presumably Christoff was in even better voice than when I
saw him in the same production a decade or so later.

[Mike Scott Rohan]

Post by Bert Coules
"A pity it's not one of the LATER performances..." is what I meant to write.
Apologies. Though presumably Christoff was in even better voice than when I
saw him in the same production a decade or so later.

He sounded pretty amazing even then, as I remember -- though by that time I'd heard other Borises, including two in this cast, Joseph Rouleau, who was always neglected at Covent Garden but feted at the Bolshoi and elsewhere, and of course David Ward in Scotland. George London also impressed. But Christoff was something special, even when he got a bit hammy, the voice kept you believing in him. When I saw him, the Xenia was a very pretty minor soprano called Kiri te Kanawa... They had casts in those days. Many thanks for this, Nicholas.

Cheers,

Mike

[Bert Coules]

He sounded pretty amazing even then...

My word, yes. And looked it, too. There was an electrifying Covent Garden
Prom - and aren't they sadly missed! - where he mesmerised the audience from
his very first entrance, a long slow walk downstage, staring out into the
house. And then he turned upstage - and you could still feel him looking at
you.

Bert

[t***@gmail.com]

The sound on Pristine is excellent BBC mono from a very good FM tape, apart from the very final scene which has been sourced from elsewhere is and is not as good.
Tim