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RECORDINGS
Opera and Oratorio
SHOSTAKOVICH: THE NOSE
 Dombrovskaya, Kravtsova, Vitman; Popov, Semishkur, Skorokhodov, Solimsky, Bezzubenkov, Kravets, Tanovitsky; Orchestra and Chorus of the Kirov Opera, Gergiev. Text and translation. Mariinsky MAR 0501 (2)
The tireless Valery Gergiev will introduce Met audiences to Dmitri Shostakovich's youthful, satirical The Nose (Leningrad, 1930) in March. Here, in the superbly recorded first issue of the Mariinsky/Kirov Theatre's in-house CD label, Gergiev leads a bang-up performance with wonderful orchestral detail and energy. Nikolai Gogol's 1836 story satirizes Tsarist Russian society's obsession with status and rank, a phenomenon that (like so many others) merely transmuted itself into new categories under Soviet power. Venality, competitive anxiety and linguistic preposterousness were no strangers to the period in which Shostakovich wrote, when full-blown Stalinism was beginning to blot out whatever vestiges of aesthetic, commercial and political experimentation still remained in Russia. Notably, after The Nose's praise-winning initial run, it languished unrevived until 1974. The eclectic score reflects Shostakovich's cabaret- and circus-linked musical experiences.
Vladislav Solimsky, as the vain, social-climbing, temporarily noseless soi-disant "Major" Kovalev (the only substantial role), shows a good, clear lyric baritone somewhat reminiscent of the sound of Sergei Leiferkus. Shostakovich limits the other singers to character cameos. Some performers here (such as the fine bass Vadim Kravets, a droll Newspaper Office Clerk) have appeared in America with the Kirov on tour and in other ventures; only deeper bass Gennady Bezzubenkov (Doctor) has sung with the Metropolitan, though high tenor Andrei Popov, a trenchant, well-characterized District Constable here, will make his company debut in the same role this season. None of the capable tenors (the others being Sergei Semishkur, as Kovalev's straying titular appendage, and Sergei Skorokhodov, as the Major's inept lackey Ivan) could be accused of producing bel canto sounds, but that would scarcely be the point in this music, which demands verbal clarity and incisiveness above all. Elena Vitman pointedly limns the influential aristocrat Mme. Podtochina, with Zhanna Dombrovskaya giving good support as her daughter, a potential catch for Kovalev if he can retrieve his perambulatory proboscis; mezzo and soprano gamely double as the Elderly Lady and a Market Woman, respectively.
This new set proves most welcome and should clearly be top current choice for those Met-goers who want to ready themselves for the company's adventure with Shostakovich's bold, whimsical, allusive score. The CD booklet has Cyrillic texts and English translations but no transliteration; also included are introductory essays and bios of Gergiev and eleven soloists, in English, French and German. The only noteworthy recorded competition is the 1974 Moscow Chamber Opera set on Melodiya, well led by Gennady Rozhdestvensky; you'll find no star vocalism there either, though it's clear the Muscovite recording documents a well- integrated theatrical production (which the composer just lived to see). Under Rozhdestvensky's baton the musical atmosphere emerges scrappier, perhaps deliberately more raffish and circus-like, which suits the piece. But the Gergiev set, which also reflects the virtues of an artistic ensemble, definitely offers better acoustical qualities and a fuller, more "opera house" orchestral sound for some of the climactic, Wozzeck-influenced interludes.
DAVID SHENGOLD
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