I suppose I can spend some time talking about the ‘Mussorgsky orchestra’ [in Boris Godunov]. We must assume that his orchestral ‘intentions’ were correct, but he simply couldn’t realize them. He wanted a sensitive and flexible orchestra. As far as I can tell, he imagined something like a singing line around the vocal parts, the way subvoices surround the main melodic line in Russian folk song. But Mussorgsky lacked the technique for that. What a shame! Obviously, he had purely orchestral imagination, and purely orchestral imagery as well. The music strives for ‘new shores’ as they say- musical dramaturgy, musical dynamics, language, imagery. But his orchestral technique drags him back to the old shores. / So naturally, the Leningrad production of 1928 was a flop, and since then all attempts to stick to the composer’s score have come to a shameful end. It’s funny and it’s sad that sometimes nowadays the basses with rather weak voices plump for the Mussorgsky score because they have to strain less. But the public isn’t very concerned about that and therefore 'Boris Godunov' is usually performed in either the Korsakov version or mine. << less