Ironically, Pictures gets second billing on this disc. The headline event is a selection of excerpts from Boris Godunov featuring George London in the title role. You get the coronation scene, Boris' Act 2 monologue, the hallucination scene, and his farewell and death. London recorded the work complete with Bolshoi forces a couple of years after this recording (they all date from the early to mid-1960s), and that version also was released by Sony. God only knows if it's still available. London sounds in marginally fresher voice here--his imposing but always slightly gravelly timbre had not yet degenerated into a wobble--but he's just fine in the Bolshoi set too. Thomas Schippers conducts with typical flair and gets good results from both the chorus and orchestra, and there's no denying the attraction of having an all-Mussorgsky disc that doesn't offer the same old stuff (like A Night on Bald Mountain and one or two other fillers). Nevertheless, Ormandy's Pictures remains the major event.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com