Despite the self-evident brilliance of Shostakovich's opera The Nose, it is so essentially Russian—so grounded in the rhythms of the words, so centered in a specifically Russian sense of the absurd—in its setting of Gogol's tale that it has never played well in non-Russian countries. To serve as an advertisement for The Nose, Shostakovich in May and June of 1928 compiled a suite of seven movements drawn from the complete score. Lasting more than 20 minutes, the suite represents roughly a quarter of the score, including some of its most characteristic and infamous moments. The virtuoso scoring for orchestra, the fantastic color combinations, and above all the extraordinary writing for percussion characteristic of the complete opera are all present in the suite. And some of the infamous moments—for example, the extended percussion interlude from Act I—are also present.

The suite's seven movements are the Overture with its amazing solo writing for orchestra, the Aria of Kovalev in which he bemoans the loss of his nose, the percussion interlude from Act I, the adagio Interlude from Act II, the balalaika-and-tenor Song of Larin, the monologue of Kovalev, and the Galop, in which a great orchestral mass is hurled with utmost force through an Allegro tempo.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide