Boris Godunov

I have been an fan of opera for many years now. While I prefer the 1989 and 1990 productions especially the latter for Valery Gergiev's conducting, this Finnish 1975 production is just great. The costumes and sets are very nice to look at and are evocative, while the story is still the powerful, tight and moving one I know and Mussorgsky's music magnificent. The orchestra, conducting are also done to a professional standard. The cast are great, Aino Takala's Marina is excellent, as is Pekka Nuotio's Dimitri. Of the support cast I was most taken by Heikki Toivanen's nobly sung Pimen, and Feodor is heart-wrenching in the death scene. Dominating the production is the truly powerful and also moving performance of the great Martti Talvela- who was taken from us too soon, especially in the death and hallucination scenes. Overall, a great Boris and worth seeing for Talvela. 9/10 Bethany Cox