The atmosphere in the theatre [Musical Chamber Theatre] was electric. Small wonder: after forty-four years of black disgrace the once reviled opera was returning to the four years of black disgrace the once reviled opera was returning to the stage in triumph. In the foyer I bumped into David Oistrakh, carrying a tape recorder: he was planning to record the whole performance. But there was an embarrassing moment: just before the conductor raised his hands to begin the performance, a sudden burst of unexplained music coming from somewhere filled the air, and as suddenly died. The opera then began in all its glory. / In the interval, Oistrakh told me that he had pressed the wrong button on his tape recorder. He was mortified at the mistake, and could not get over it. To console the great violinist, I told him that the accident which had so upset him was entirely in the spirit of 'The Nose', filled as it was with bizarre and unexpected events. We had a good laugh about it./ At the end of the performance, an ovation began that seemed as though it would never end, and the composer became exhausted from all the bows he had to take. He embraced Gennady Rozhdestvensky and warmly shook the hand of the director Boris Pokrovsky in acknowledgement of their work./ Shostakovich decided not to mark this premier by inviting a large party of guests, and so the three of us went out to Zhukovka by ourselves. During supper, we had a lively discussion about the production, singling out the most successful parts of the performance. Shostakovich bestowed high praise on the orchestral playing under Rozhdestvensky, and on the singers. He said: 'What a wonderful, original story the young Gogol came up with. He was only twenty-five or twenty-six when he wrote it, and I was even younger when I composed my opera. Everything in the story is amazing, but the passage I most often think about is when Kovalyov asks the doctor to restore his nose. You remember what he replies: "Of course it can be put back again, but I assure you, you will be the worse for it." Only Gogol could have written that. Let Kovalyov say without his nose. He would be worse with it back on. And my God, I've had to deal with doctors like that myself.' << less