The Return of Pushkin (1948)

Nabokov's work is an evocation of Pushkin's return in 1835 to the country estate where some ten years before he had suffered a two-year exile. The text, in Russian, is Pushkin's poem on the subject. The music is nostalgic and poetic, serene for the most part and psychologically, rather than geographically, atmospheric. His tone is elevated, its composition elegant. Neo-romanticism is its school, Henri Sauguet is its most noticeable influence. It is a distinguished work and a beautiful one. (Virgil Thomson)