The Archive - G. Vichienvskaia & B. Christoff

The Archive - G. Vichienvskaia & B. Christoff

This episode of The Archive introduces us two great opera singers, Galina Vichnievskaia and Boris Christoff. The first part is devoted to Vichnievskaia and takes place in Paris in 1970. She performs Tchaïchovsky’s Ottchevo and Serenada , and then, the first four parts of Songs and dances of Death by Moussorgsky. She’s accompanied by her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich, on the piano. The next archives are dedicated to Boris Christoff, who twice performs his favourite part, Boris Godunov. The first archive shows us an extract of a rehearsal of the death of Boris, during a recording in 1967, under Jean-Claude Hartemann conducting. The second archive is an extract of the Opera recorded in the BBC’s studios in 1958, with Eric Robinson conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Christoff performs again the death of Boris, giving the performance a dramatic size. The program ends on a performance of a Russian folk, Song of the Volga Boatmen, that Christoff records in 1959, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eric Robinson.