I love this production of Khovanshchina. The assassination scene is a little clumsy and disappointing in the staging and the stage direction ranges from sensual and evocative(Dance of the Persian slaves and the rally) to static(some of those for the chorus), however everything else is wonderful.

Khovanshchina is a fine opera. It lacks the tightness of Boris Godunov perhaps, but it is a subtle and mature work with some of Mussorgsky's most beautiful and haunting music and vivid characters.

The costumes and sets are marvellously evocative, with the sets appropriately surrealistic complete with disturbing imagery and the costumes incredible. Technically the production is excellent too, the video directing is great and very interesting and the lighting and sound are terrific.

The orchestra play the music with real sincerity and Claudio Abbado's conducting is brilliant making the most of the ethereal strings to the dark basses representing the Kohvanskys and their conflicts. The chorus's staging are static, but they sing and act as well as they can.

The singing and acting are superb. Nicolai Ghiaurov may be past prime, but he still manages to give a powerful and moving performance. Vladmir Atlantov is excellent too and makes the most of his difficult tessitura. Ludmilla Sentchuk is a beautifully sung and alluring Marfa and Heinz Zednik is fantastic as well as Paata Burchuladze. Stealing the show with a tremendous basso voice and genuinely frightening acting skills particularly in his great act 3 aria is Anatoly Kotcherga as Shaklovity.

Overall, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

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