First, the positives: it's a rare pleasure to see the original version of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, and all the better to have its seven scenes played in one, 130-minute sweep, with no interval. Antonio Pappano's command of the music is impressive, and the chorus as dominant a character as it should be but rarely is. And this is a well-thought-through and nuanced production, with the murder of the young tsarevich Dmitry placed as the central driving force of the drama, especially inside Boris's mind. There's lots to look at, the characters are rounded and it's (almost) universally well sung (to have Sir John Tomlinson in the minor role of Varlaam is luxury casting indeed).

But there is a hole at the centre, which is Bryn Terfel's Boris. It's a precisely calibrated and well-acted performance, but it seems this just isn't his role. The notes are there, but the sum is far less than the individual parts. One gets no sense of Boris as a towering figure, and even less of a thrill listening to Terfel. I'm afraid that I was bored for most of the time.