[Met Performance] CID:144600
Boris Godunov {113} Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio: 04/11/1947.
(Review)
Cleveland, Ohio
April 11, 1947
In Italian
BORIS GODUNOV {113}
Boris Godunov...........Ezio Pinza
Prince Shuisky..........John Garris
Pimen...................Nicola Moscona
Grigory.................Richard Tucker
Marina..................Blanche Thebom
Rangoni.................Frank Valentino
Varlaam.................Salvatore Baccaloni
Simpleton...............Anthony Marlowe
Nikitich................Osie Hawkins
Shchelkalov.............Mack Harrell
Innkeeper...............Claramae Turner
Missail.................Lodovico Oliviero
Officer.................Jerome Hines
Xenia...................Frances Greer
Feodor..................Irene Jordan
Nurse...................Martha Lipton
Khrushchov..............Leslie Chabay
Lavitsky................Hugh Thompson
Chernikovsky............George Cehanovsky
Boyar in Attendance.....Emery Darcy
Dance...................Edward Caton
Conductor...............Emil Cooper
Review of Arthur Loesser in the Cleveland Press
Pinza Gives Fine Performance in "Boris Godounov" Title Role
Moussorgsky's great work "Boris Godounov," was given by the Metropolitan Opera last night at Public Hall. Of all the operas presented this season this was the one which aroused the most interest among musicians and high-brows generally; by the same token it was the one in which the interest of the less experienced lagged a little, and we are informed that it was only shortly before curtain time that a capacity house was achieved.
Actually, "Boris" is an outstanding masterpiece' the music, in its virility and originality, has a potency that raises it far above most other operatic music of its time. The drama, too, is fundamentally powerful and moving; if it seems fragmentary and lacking in coherence to Americans, it must be remembered that it deals with historical incidents, the connecting details of which were well known to the Russian audience for which it was composed.
The performance last night was of a very high order of merit. Ezio Pinza, in the title role, had the appearance, the voice and the personality to give a most convincing representation of the magnificence, the egoism and the emotional storms of the somewhat fabulous Russian Tsar.
It is now 21 years since this reviewer heard and saw the legendary Chaliapin in the same role on the stage of Public Hall, alas, without a public-address system. Comparisons are notoriously unprofitable, but one could well say that no one today but Pinza could combine the necessary qualities to reach the musical and dramatic heights and the depths embodied in the "hallucination" scene, or the death scene.
Salvatore Baccaloni, as the beggar Varlaam, made a great effect in the "inn" scene. If he could be called technically guilty of someway overplaying a subordinate role, nevertheless he earned everybody's gratitude for the needed comic relief.
Blanche Thebom put plenty of vocal and bodily vigor into the somewhat ambiguous part of Marina; what with her warm voice and her pulchritude she won over the audience rather substantially.
Richard Tucker as the "False Dmitri" exercised his good ringing tenor to advantage. It is unfortunate for this role that most of its effective singing is in the relatively less interesting "garden" scene. Yet Tucker achieved substantial success.
John Garris as Schiusky, Irene Jordan as Feodor, Frances Greer as Xenia, Martha Lipton as the Nurse, Nicola Moscona as Brother Pimen, Francesco Valentino as Rangoni, Clarame Turner as the Innkeeper, Anthony Marlowe as the simpleton and Ossie Hawkins as the Police Officer, all showed a high level of competence contributing to the general excellence of the entire performance.
This report would be incomplete without speaking of the splendor of the pageantry in the famous "Coronation" scene; and of the fine choral work in that and the "Forrest" scene. For these the chorus master, Kurt Adler, deserves credit.
Especial praise must be bestowed upon the orchestra and its conductor, Emil Cooper, for his handling of this all-important element in the success of this production.