Shostakovich: The Nose
Composer: Shostakovich
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra: The Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Format: 2SACD
Price: £17.49
Release Date: 25 May 2009
Mariinsky label recordings are made available by LSO Live. To complete your order you will be transferred to the London Symphony Orchestra website.
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.
Reviews
18 June 2010
Orphée d’Or
18 June 2010
Best Opera
24 March 2010
Nominated for Best Classical Album and Best Opera
24 March 2010
Caecilia Award
1 March 2010
Nominated for Best Opera
21 January 2010
Best Opera
21 December 2009
CDs of the Year
21 December 2009
CDs of the Year
21 December 2009
CDs of the Year
21 December 2009
Choc de l'Année
17 September 2009
Artistic Quality 10
Sound Quality 10
Sergei Semishkur sings the role of the Nose, and he manages well with the clownishly high tessitura. Ivan is correctly puzzling as sung by Alexei Tanovitski. Indeed, the whole cast is marvelous if you're looking for characterization and originality rather than lovely singing--this is theater at its most brazen.
Valery 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!
BBC Music Magazine
8 July 2009
' ... singers and orchestra negotiate the most complex ensembles in brilliantly idiomatic and conversational style ... the recorded sound is absolutely superb in its crystal clarity and depth. The ultimate winner in this excellent release, however, is Shostakovich. Now we can clearly see that he was never so obviously the youth genius'
Disc of the Month
7 July 2009
'The complete recording of The Nose is a special achievement ... The conductor achieves such vibrancy, detail and spontaneity that the opera sounds like the product of a mature composer who had worked for may years on the piece ... it's alarming how much sophistication is brought forth in the score, mixing folk melodies with harmonic extremity, and the avant-garde nature of the core and libretto comes through absolutely in Gergiev’s wonderful reading. With a complete, clear libretto, informative essay by Leonid Gakkel and excellent playing from the Mariinsky orchestra, there's much to enjoy here.'
Read the full review here
5 June 2009
‘a new version of Shostakovich’s first opera is badly needed and this one fills the gap definitively ... Brilliantly realised’
International Record Review
1 June 2009
'This recording was made under studio conditions only last year, which is all to the good as the demands made on singers and players in The Nose require a precision of execution that live performances - however much they capture the heat of the moment - are unlikely to secure ... This release reaffirms The Nose as a testament to Shostakovich’s creative ambition at a time when the artistic possibilities music have seemed limitless. In doing so, the Mariinsky labels could not have been more persuasively launched.'
1 June 2009
Disc of the Month
1 June 2009
Discos Excepcionales
The Times (UK)
31 May 2009
'Shostakovich’s prodigious, youthful satire - composed when he was only 21 - has been assiduously championed by Gergiev ... Recorded under studio conditions in the Mariinsky’s brand new concert hall, this version is notable for the brilliance of the orchestra’s playing and the idiomatic delivery of the Gogol-based text by a new generation of Mariinsky voices. Both Vladislav Sulimsky as the noseless collegiate assessor, Kovalev, and Sergei Semishkur as his errant appendage perform with panache.'
Read the full review here
Artists
Valery Gergiev, conductor
Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Andrei Petrenko, chorus master
Irina Soboleva, principal vocal coach
Vladislav Sulimsky Platon Kuzmich Kovalev, a collegiate assessor, baritone
Alexei Tanovitski Ivan Yakovlevich, a barber, bass
Tatiana Kravtsova Praskovya Osipovna, wife of Ivan Yakovlevich, soprano
Andrei Popov A district constable, tenor
Sergei Semishkur The Nose, tenor
Gennady Bezzubenkov A doctor, bass
Vadim Kravets A clerk in a newspaper office, bass
Sergei Skorokhodov Ivan, Kovalev's valet, tenor
Yevgeny Strashko Yaryzhkin, a friend of Kovalyov's, tenor
Elena Vitman An elderly lady, mezzo-soprano
Zhanna Dombrovskaya A market-woman, soprano
The Mariinsky theatre chorus
Recording Details
Recorded at the Mariinsky Concert Hall, St Petersburg, 15-26 July 2008 Producer: James Mallinson
Engineers: John Newton and Dirk Sobotka
Notes in Russian (Cyrillic), English, French and German. Libretto in Russian (Cyrillic) and English.
Hybrid SACD. Compatible with all CD players Includes multi-channel 5.1 and stereo mixes
