Shostakovich: The Nose (complete opera)

BBC Music Magazine Awards 2010 - Opera Finalist

"Shostakovich was never so obviously the youthful genius as in this brilliant operatic jape" (Recording of the Month BBC Music July 2009)

"Gergiev, obviously in his element and with his own orchestra and (spectacular) chorus, gives the work form and pathos while making certain that absurdity and satire reign supreme. This is, by the way, the first release on the Mariinsky label and it's quite an auspicious start. Fabulous fun!"
(10/10 ClasicsToday.com Sept 2009)

"Valery Gergiev perfectly catches the grotesqueries and acerbic satire of the work, based upon Gogol's short story. The vividness of the recording catches all the raw-edged detail of a score that amalgamates a range of modernist influences against a background of Rimsky-Korsakov's final opera, The Golden Cockerel, and Gergiev revels in its youthful exuberance. With a cast of some 70 named characters, it's a perfect work for a company like the Mariinsky." The Guardian, 5th June 2009 *****

Dmitri Shostakovich's satirical opera The Nose was premiered in 1930 and is set in St Petersburg. Based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, its absurd plot revolves around the exploits of a pompous government official and his nose. After a visit to the barber, the nose absconds from the man's face and takes on a life of its own; the pretentious bureaucrat is reduced to desperation, frantically searching the city for his lost appendage. Although primarily a comic opera, The Nose touches on the struggle between the individual and society (here portrayed by a cast of over 80 characters), and its spiky score is a 1920's modernist masterpiece from the prodigiously talented composer.