Myaskovsky means aspirations of a whole generation of Russian musicians, the first ones who gave themselves up to the service of Soviet music.
Dmitri Shostakovich
The combination of creative endowments and powerful intellect, high moral and ethical principles and patriotic feelings allowed Myaskovsky to become a central figure of domestic music culture in a hard historic period of the early 20th century.
The artistic career of Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881–1950) evolved through almost the entire half of the 20th century being a sort of music encyclopedia of the time. He played a special part in the formation of Soviet symphony and the development of chamber instrumental music. The composer's heritage includes 27 symphonies, 15 symphonic works, 2 instrumental concertos, 13 string concertos and choir music.
Myaskovsky's first symphonies of the pre-revolution period drew critics' attention with their genuine, anxious music rich in drama and turmoil and an ample share of lyrical and tragic images.
One can imagine the composer's creative personality by the memories and sayings of his contemporaries – friends, peers and pupils. Dmitri Kabalevsky wrote, “There was some special power of magnetism in that man, and behind his outward modesty, he concealed a rich and substantive inner world, a strained one because of deep thinking and an agitated one because of eternal discontent, of one of the most remarkable musicians of our time.”
Aram Khachaturian remembered, “Myaskovsky's life and creative activities were inseparable from the entire history of Soviet music. An outstanding composer, educator and public figure, he was a type of Soviet artist who lived the life of the people, country and his time… Myaskovsky knew music as a true artist. He was in touch with all new musical phenomena in his country and abroad … the doors of his home were open to everyone. He was a passionate musician. He wrote none of his works without enthusiasm. Eternal discontent and aspiration for perfection were characteristic of him until his last days.”
In his article “Thoughts about Myaskovsky,” Heinrich Neuhaus wrote, “It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Nikolai Myaskovsky is one of the major symphonists of the first half of the 20th century not only in this country but in the world in general. It would suffice to recollect the names of a few eminent creators of symphonies after Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and its gets clear that the name of Myaskovsky ranks high among those luminaries. Not just the amount of his symphonic works but also the very essence of it, that ‘symphonism par excellence.’”
Boris Asafiev wrote, “The line of Myaskovsky's symphonism with small inclinations to and captures from the field of Russian symphony of the Borodin-Balakirev-Glazunov kind and from the lyricism of Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov comes completely from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky… The intellectual sphere – polyphonism – comes from Taneyev, the pessimism – most evidently from Mussorgsky, but all that lies under a characteristic imprint of Myaskovsky's strong personality… Myaskovsky's symphonies cannot instantly fascinate your ear or please it with their completeness and inertness which makes perception so much easier. Built upon classical theses, they are explosive, anxious, convulsive, poignantly refined and ‘tastefully uneven.’”
Symphony No. 16 is one of the brightest pages in the history of Soviet symphonism. Sergei Prokofiev, who was present at the premiere of the symphony conducted by Eugen Szenkar in 1936, wrote in his review afterwards, “They compose a lot of symphonies, and at times one of them would draw attention owing to a melodious theme, or a crafty scherzo, or any other sort of fortunate feature. But really good symphonies emerge so seldom, therefore let us not underestimate the event that took place on 24 October at the Grand Hall of the conservatory when the premiere of Myaskovsky's 16th symphony opened the season of the Philharmonic Society… By the beauty of the material, mastery of statement and general harmony of the mood, it is a real big art, which does not seek after external effects and wink at the audience.”
Each of the four movements of the symphony is notable for vivid originality of the thematic material. A strained first movement of the symphony is followed by a lyrically pacified second one. The music of the third movement is stern and returns the listener to the dramatic events. Although this movement, like the entire symphony, has no definite programme, we know, according to what the author said, that it reflected the feeling of grief evoked by the news of the death of the crew and passengers of the giant Soviet aircraft Maxim Gorky… However, the grief is gone, and life triumphs in the finale filled with song and dance themes.
Symphony No. 17 was composed in 1937. It was performed for the first time in Moscow and conducted by Alexander Gauk. Heinrich Neuhaus, whose review appeared in Sovetskoye Iskusstvo magazine in 1938, wrote, “…By its craftsmanship, this symphony is a sort of perfection. Myaskovsky has never achieved this clarity and simplicity of statement before… Just like paintings of the major artists … the symphony produces an equally strong impression when you listen to it in concert or when you scrutinize its score… It is filled with immense dramatic tension and even some tragedy (in the first movement). These tragic moods, however, make way to completely different emotions – contemplative ones (in the second movement), energetic, cheerful ones (in the scherzo, which is close to folk spirit) and, at last, joyful, active, life-asserting ones in the finale.”
Symphony No. 21 absorbed almost the most characteristic features of the composer's individuality. On the one hand, disposition towards philosophical thinking, on the other – activity and desire as spiritual warmth and lyricism prevail.
The symphony was ordered by Frederick Stock, the chief conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and an active promoter of Myaskovsky's symphonies, for the 50th anniversary of his orchestra. The Chicago premiere conducted by Stock took place in December 1940 (the Moscow premiere conducted by Gauk took place earlier in November). Thus, the symphony became widespread not only in the composer's home country but overseas as well.
Semyon Schlifstein, an author of the first review, wrote, “The symphony conquered everyone with its uncommon integrity of the mood, crystal clear feelings and extreme completeness of expression. I see the whole composition as an elegy symphony. The elegiac pensiveness constituting the major emotional key of the symphony is exposed distinctly enough in the first theme… The organic development, simplicity and laconism of the entire work deserve admiration. Nothing is unnecessary, and at the same time, nothing is uncertain.”
Symphony No. 22 was one of the first Soviet symphonies that emerged as a response to the war with Nazi Germany. It was composed in 1941 under the title “Symphonic Ballade about the Great Patriotic War,” which was later removed.
The premiere conducted by Abram Stasevich took place in Tbilisi where Myaskovsky had been evacuated to. This is what the author wrote about the nature of his work, “…Why a ballade? Can't you feel the tone of narration? Indeed, it has no specific plot, but can't you hear a threat on the background of a calm narration of the first movement? Don't you think that the second movement is a nightmare of conquests and other similar horrors? Don't you hear the struggle for liberation and a victory hymn in the third movement, but without sabre-rattling? Do you still miss all that tinsel, sonic and verbal tricks helping you understand the artist's psychological attitude to the war?”
Symphony No. 25 (1946) was the composer's first work of the post-war years. Some researchers are fair enough to call it Poetic as the music is heartfelt and lyrical. Of the three movements of the symphony, the first two were written in slow and moderate tempos. To the composer, the slow movements are a sphere of the most concentration, focal points of the musical dramatic concept. The energy accumulated previously is only released in the finale.
Myaskovsky composed his Symphony No. 27 in the years of illness having a presentment of his impending death. It is a very personal piece by nature rendering the composer's emotional experience he was going through. “The author's voice” is constantly heard in the solo sections. This work as a total of the composer's symphonic creation incorporates all his major stylistic features. Tragedy and lyricism, triumph of the masses and the hero's monologue. However, thanks to the abundance of clear harmonies and spectacular tonal colouring, the symphony is somewhat of a hymn to the bygone romantic era.
“…Deep dramatic conflicts of the 27th symphony are just a hard and tense way to the goal, and the goal is light, joy, triumph! Three movements of the symphony sound like an interrupted ascension to the light, to assertion of joy and completeness of life,” wrote Dmitri Kabalevsky.
“The ninth of December 1950. The Pillar Hall of the House of Unions. The last bars of Nikolai Myaskovsky's 27th and last symphony have just faded. The audience gives it a standing ovation; exclamations are heard – ‘Author!’ The conductor takes the score of the symphony from the stand and lifts it over the audience… May be it was the moment when I felt particularly clear what a great of artist left us just a few months before the first performance of this work, which completed the creative path of the remarkable composer!” (from the memoirs of Nikolai Peyko).
Firma Melodiya presents selected symphonies of Nikolai Myaskovsky performed by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra led by outstanding conductors Konstantin Ivanov and Evgeny Svetlanov.
