International Record Review

This recording was made under studio conditions only last year [in 2008], 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 in music must have seemed limitless. In doing so, the Mariinsky label could not have been more persuasively launched.