@HumphreyBohun Tbqh I cannot easily tell - at least by the supposedly most salient differences, orchestration and harmony- which one I’m hearing. My test is a line early in the Coronation Scene fanfares: the trumpets’ line goes *down* in “original,” *up* in Rimsky. But unless I hear
@HumphreyBohun representative snippets side-by-side, taste-test style, I’m not rly sure. And I put quotes around “original” bc - has anyone *really* ever heard it? In 1974 the Met made a big covfefe out of how they were at last using Mussorgsky’s original harmonies and orchestration. But
@HumphreyBohun after Maestro Thomas Schippers’s death, his BORIS score was found, and lo, he had made numerous changes in the rehearsal process. The 2010 new production (tonight’s version) has a musicologist it relies on, as the 1955 English-language production relied on Karol Rathaus.
@HumphreyBohun In 1962 when they revived that production under Solti, they used the Shostakovich version, which afaik just majorly rearranges events in the Polish Act. @MetOpera hasn’t done the Rimsky version since the days of Pinza when they were doing it in Italian.
@HumphreyBohun All that said, I agree that the Rimsky version can stand on its merits and deserves to be revived from time to time. Right now tho we have our hands full holding onto the Polish Act. Next year @MetOpera is going to revive this production without it, and sell *that* -
@HumphreyBohun @MetOpera - 1869 version - as “original,” when all it means is, they don’t anticipate being able to shell out for a Marina and a Rangoni. Or even a decent Pretender, since his part is virtual comprimario w/o the Polish Act.
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