MUSSORGSKY: BORIS GODUNOV - ABBADO, BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER (3 CDS)

Sony Classical announces a further batch of complete recordings from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor catalogues. The newest installment of this popular series features some unusual repertoire as well as documents of the New York Metropolitan Opera in its postwar heyday. The most recent recording in this latest batch of Sony reissues is Claudio Abbado’s universally praised 1993 Berlin Philharmonic recording of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, made in conjunction with live concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie and a subsequent stage production at the Salzburg Festival. “The urgency of the composer’s inspiration is conveyed as never before on disc,” wrote the Penguin Guide. “Vocally the performance centres on the glorious singing of Anatoly Kotcherga as Boris. … The sound is spacious … full and glowing.”

Anatoly Kocherga (Boris), Marjana Lipovsek (Marina), Samuel Ramey (Pimen), Sergei Larin (Grigory), Sergei Leiferkus (Rangoni), Philip Langridge (Shuisky), Valentina Valente (Xenia), Elena Zaremba (Hostess), Alexander Fedin (Simpleton)

Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Berlin Radio Chorus, Tölzer Singerknaben, Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado