Shostakovich – Nos
Opéra National de Paris – Bastille, Tuesday November 15 2005 Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Production: Yuri Alexandrov. Sets: Zinovy Margolin. Costumes: Maria Danilova. Solists, orchestra and chorus of the Mariinski Theatre. I feel very sheepish about this review of Nos or The Nose ( Le Nez here, of course). It’s a rare work in the theatre, and despite my long acquaintance with Shostakovich, one I’d never heard. We had the Mariinski troupe and Gergiev in the pit, and a lavish production in giant, elaborate sets. The curtain went up to reveal a cobbled courtyard, but with the rooftops and chimneys facing the audience, the buildings forming a rectangular “tunnel” in exaggerated perspective and the cobbles projected on a mobile screen at the rear. The barber was suspended on a rope in front of the cobbles. As the opera progressed, the buildings moved in or out, up or down; the roofs opened and closed to reveal here a giant officer, there long banners of newspaper small ads, and the projec...