Battle of the Basses

The Phillip/Inquisitor duet remains popular because it offers up juicy opportunities for two basses to go head to head. Here's another.

Khovanschina is something of a mess. Its plot revolves around Peter the Great. But the Romanovs didn't allow him to be named on stage. So the plot is largely incomprehensible. Most of the characters are despicable and almost all of them die horribly.

Mussorgsky started it, Rimsky-Korsakov contributed as did Stravinsky, Ravel and Shostokovich. Incredibly it somehow works. Five heads are better than one it seems.

In this scene Ghiaurov storms about in the title role - the evil head of the rebelious musketeers. Burchuladze enters as Dosifei the head of the Old Believers.