Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Music Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- A Note on Transliteration and Other Matters
- 1 Beginnings: 1881–1902
- 2 Apprenticeship: 1903–11
- 3 Emergence: 1911–14
- 4 War and Revolution: 1914–17
- 5 Aftermath: 1918–21
- 6 Expanding Horizons: 1921–3
- 7 Cross-Currents: 1924–6
- 8 ‘Sheer Overcoming’: 1927–31
- 9 Time of Troubles: 1932–41
- 10 Endurance: 1941–5
- 11 Final Years: 1946–50
- Appendix I A Note on Recordings
- Appendix II List of Published Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Myaskovsy’s Works
- General Index
Appendix I - A Note on Recordings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 June 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Music Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- A Note on Transliteration and Other Matters
- 1 Beginnings: 1881–1902
- 2 Apprenticeship: 1903–11
- 3 Emergence: 1911–14
- 4 War and Revolution: 1914–17
- 5 Aftermath: 1918–21
- 6 Expanding Horizons: 1921–3
- 7 Cross-Currents: 1924–6
- 8 ‘Sheer Overcoming’: 1927–31
- 9 Time of Troubles: 1932–41
- 10 Endurance: 1941–5
- 11 Final Years: 1946–50
- Appendix I A Note on Recordings
- Appendix II List of Published Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Myaskovsy’s Works
- General Index
Summary
Readers curious to explore Myaskovsky's output may appreciate some suggestions on where to start. Rather than providing a comprehensive discography, I have confined myself to mentioning recorded performances that are easily accessible (most can be found on the internet) and of particular note. Commercial recordings of Myaskovsky's compositions are becoming more abundant: in addition to reissues of Soviet-era releases, quite a few new recordings have come out in recent years. Welcome though this has been, especially as concert performances remain infrequent, it must be said that the quality of these recordings is very variable. Myaskovsky's work presents taxing technical and interpretative challenges: it will not survive thoughtless, superficial readings and requires scrupulous attention to the fine details of phrasing, nuance, and textural balance if it is to make its effect. (In this respect, it is akin to the work of his English contemporary Arnold Bax, a composer with whom Myaskovsky had much in common.) But if some of the available recorded performances do Myaskovky's music little service, it has also attracted the attention of sympathetic advocates capable of revealing its artistic stature.
Of these, the Russian conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov (1928–2002) deserves special mention. A conductor of exceptional talent, Svetlanov had a deep affinity with Myaskovsky's music and made a sustained effort to rescue it from the neglect into which it had fallen after the composer's death. By the end of his life, Svetlanov had managed to record all of Myaskovsky's symphonies, many of them for the Soviet label Melodiya. A compilation box set of sixteen compact discs entitled Miaskovsky: Intégrale des symphonies, which includes Myaskovsky's other orchestral works, was issued in the Warner Classics Svetlanov Edition in 2008. The playing of the USSR Symphony Orchestra and its successor the Russian Federation Symphony Orchestra is not always of the highest standard, and by all accounts, the recordings were sometimes made under less-than-ideal conditions. Nonetheless, one is deeply grateful for Svetlanov's enterprise, especially as his are still the only recordings available of some of these scores.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Nikolay MyaskovskyA Composer and His Times, pp. 463 - 464Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021