From Ivan the Terrible to Putin the Pernicious, Russian leaders have been a vicious breed. The early 17th century Tsar Boris Godunov is easily seen as a typical operatic villain but Bryn Terfel’s portrayal of him in the latest Covent Garden production reveals a more sensitive side of this troubled character.

Mussorgsky’s opera was written in 1869 and based on a play by Alexander Pushkin. The current production is the second revival of a version directed by Richard Jones which first appeared in 2016 and emphasises the allegation that Godunov ensured his election as Tsar by ordering the murder of the child designated to succeed to that role.

The opera begins with Godunov guiltily brooding as we see the child playing with a spinning top before before being assassinated. The assassination scene and the image of spinning tops recur throughout the opera as Godunov slowly loses his grip on reality. History has never confirmed the child-murder allegation, which was first made by rivals at the start of Godunov’s reign, but was scarcely mentioned during his years as a fair and competent ruler. Only in his later years when Russia began to collapse through political and economic problems did the child-murder accusations resurface.

As Pushkin and Mussorgsky realised, however, and Richard Jones emphasized, this made a good story for a play and an opera. Bryn Terfel perfectly conveys the emotions of Godunov as he deteriorates from a powerful leader to a shambling wreck, culminating in the moving final scene of his passing the title of Tsar to his son Fyodor before dying. The young Robert Berry-Roe gave a superbly mature performance as Fyodor.

While the character of Godunov dominated the opera, other parts are also excellently sung, even if the story offers less chance to make a strong impact. The Polish bass Adam Palka was particularly impressive as the monk and chronicler Pimen, who is the principal critic and accuser of Boris. Unusually, the greatest impact of all is made by the all-male chorus, representing the Russian people, particularly the aristocrats who are responsible for electing their leaders. Mussorgsky wrote some fine music for the full cast of some 90 singers, drawing on both Russian folk music and his own inspirational style. The conductor Mark Wigglesworth has previously shown his great understanding of Russian composers and he transmitted this to the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

The audience’s rather muted applause at the final curtain, however, showed that Boris Godunov is an opera to be impressed by rather than to enjoy, particularly if your knowledge of Russian history is, like mine, very sketchy. This is definitely one where I would strongly recommend reading the programme before seeing the opera.