Julie Goussot, singing Gavust’s lover, stands out with her radiant sweetness and urgent dramatic delivery...But the artistry carrying this production is above all that of the band Theresia, whose pacing, phrasing and additions make this little-known score engagingly dramatic.

This opera itself turns out to have plenty of quality in it: affecting arias you could easily mistake for Handel (if not Handel at his very best) mix with interesting moments of individuality, achieved with a skill, lightness and grace reminiscent of Telemann.

Olivier Gourdy’s bass is not huge but he uses it extremely well, and he is fairly deft at managing coloratura passagework… Alice Lackner’s appealing and firm-toned mezzo is well suited to Olga’s arias… Andrea Marchiol and the Theresia ensemble give a fairly driven account of the score.

there is much to like about Theresia’s energy in putting Boris Goudenow across. Rustic playing and rhythms evoke the exotic Moscow setting, as does the casting of three basses. Olivier Gourdy’s soft-grained Boris suggests the calm politician, his rise culminating in a grand coronation scene with drums and trumpets, while Yevhen Rakhmanin’s oaky Tsar Theodorus has a moving death scene.