When Musorgsky died in 1881, he left behind the unfinished vocal score of a five-act opera, Khovantchina. As with so many of his manuscripts, it had to be edited by Rimsky-Korsakov and was first performed in St Petersburg in 1886. The opera derives from Russian historical sources and is concerned with the intense power struggle and political unrest which characterized the 'regency' period in seventeenth-century Russia, preceding Peter the Great’s accession to the Tsarist throne. The Introduction to Act I is a superbly atmospheric tone-painting of daybreak over Moscow. Birdcalls are heard in the woodwinds and, as the sun rises, the bells of the Kremlin call the believers to Mass.

from notes by Edward Johnson © 2020

The Entr’acte to Act IV illustrates the journey into exile of Prince Galitsin, one of the once-powerful protagonists in the story. Leopold Stokowski’s 'Symphonic Transcription' of this music makes it more dramatic and sonorous than Rimsky-Korsakov’s, and in his published score he wrote: 'Of all the inspired music of Musorgsky, this is one of the most eloquent … We hear the harsh tolling of bells, the gradual unfolding of a dark and tragic melody, with under-currents of deep agitated tones, all painted with sombre timbres and poignant harmonies.”

from notes by Edward Johnson © 2020