The Met program contains a single sentence about the version used for this performance, which they designate as the 1872 version with the additions of the longer 1869 version of Boris' Monologue and the 1869 St. Basil's scene. That's all they say. Unfortunately I pitched the program, so I can't quote it literally.

I saw the High Definition transmission last Saturday, here in Rochester NY. David Albert makes some good points: René Pape did not bring much dramatic specificity to the different phases of Boris's development (and unraveling). And the Holy Fool was surely just about the best ever--not least in his remarkable command of physical gesture. (And I normally avoid superlatives.)

Two points about the edition used:

1. Nobody from the Met pointed out on-screen (e.g., in interviews) or on the Met website--unless I couldn't find the right page--what the edition consisted of, much less tried to explain or defend it. Perhaps there was something in the program book handed out at the Met itself? One on-screen interview mentioned briefly some discussions about "the edition" to be used (discussions between the stage director and the conductor, I think). But surely the public could have been more directly informed....

2. The Kromi Forest scene is what we saw performed at the end of the opera. It was not removed. David Albert doesn't mention--though he surely knows this--that the St. Basil scene, from the 1869 score, was inserted as it often is before the Council/Death scene. The usual adjustment of the Kromi Forest scene was made, namely passage in which the children tease the Holy Fool was removed there because we had seen it in the St. Basil scene, and the Holy Fool's lament was kept (even though we had seen it in the St. Basil scene). There is, as Richard Taruskin and others have pointed out, no authority at all (other than posthumous opera-house tradition) for including both the St. Basil and Kromi Forest scenes and thus for having to figure out what to do about the two passages that are the same in each.

Taruskin's entry on this opera in Grove Dictionary (Oxford Music Online), also available in the wonderful Grove Book of Operas (now in a revised 2nd edn.; the 1st edn. was entitled New Grove...), makes the genesis and performance history of this remarkable work utterly clear. And also gives wonderful contextual background and interpretive angles.

Disappointing!

Pros: Fine chorus and orchestra.
Cons: Poor artistic choice in score; poor staging and set. Adequate singing.

First of all - the version. Pieces from 1869 original. Pieces from 1874 version. But nothing from 1872. That means NO CLOCK SCENE! One of the most famous scenes of the whole opera, and that which establishes Boris' madness, is entirely left out! And so our vision and understanding of Boris is absolutely shriveled. Terrible, terrible omission. Same scene - they also left out the famous Song of the Parrot.

They also left out the Kromi Forest scene, which is extremely atmospheric (and has some of the best orchestral parts.)

The sets were terrible. This is a Russian opera, with forests, and cathedrals, and Kremlins, against which the chorus (one of the main characters) supposedly shrinks. Instead, it was all lighting, with a half-size throne. This might have been fine for a sophomore college production, but the Met? (and NO CLOCK! Well, one appears in the second scene - it looks like a large gold box, and then is whisked off stage, never to be seen again.)

Pape was fine. But when Pimen's dream is more memorable than Boris' death scene, and the voice of Pimen is deeper and richer, you know there is a casting problem, and there was.

False Dimitri and Marina were more than adequate, and they seemed to have some spark together. Again, not memorable. (The wise fool was very good.)

Gudonov is one of my favorite operas. This performance was entirely unremarkable, and not one I am likely to remember much.