Nikolay Miaskovsky (1881-1950)

[W.A. Mozart]

What do you think about the first symphony?

USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

[relm1]

What do you think about the first symphony?

USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Very Russian.  That's a good thing!  I hear Mussorgsky, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky Korsakov in it.

[Roy Bland]

Sergey Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky "Correspondence"
"Dmitry Pozharsky University"


"Dear Serge, I have received your symphonietto and I hasten to blurt out my impressions. The general impression of this part is the most pleasant: fresh, cheerful, graceful, in places even piquant, it should be easy and pleasant to listen to; if the ending is the same, then again I regret that it will include swell (caca)."

(N. Ya. Myaskovsky - to S. S. Prokofiev, July 28, 1909, St. Petersburg)

And here is a volume of words and courtesies from the musical fields, unique in terms of the personalities of the interlocutors and the duration of communication. Nikolai Myaskovsky is not much performed now, but still one of the main Russian musicians of the first half of the 20th century, the author of 27 symphonies, a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory and an example of composer's stateliness and fortitude. And Sergei Prokofiev, on the other hand, is perhaps the main pop star of academic music in the first 30 years of the 20th century, a virtuoso giving concerts all over the world, a genius and an enfant terrible rolled into one. Prokofiev spent the first part of his life on a tour of America, Asia and Europe - from there he sent numerous letters to his best friend NYaM (an abbreviation for the initials of Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky), receiving answers in overwhelming quantities. And they contain everyday details of the nomadic life of musicians ("the piano does not play, oranges are bitter, it would be nice to have a rest, but no..."), the traveler's impressions of new places and works of their contemporaries like "Skryaba" (Scriabin) or "ZBS" (Zakharova Boris Stepanovich), very touching invitations to visit, in order to "drum" on the piano together (those who are familiar with Prokofiev's piano style may grin ...). This correspondence lasts from the carefree days of youth, full of energy and enthusiasm, to the dark fifties, in which already elderly masters, in spite of everything, still turn to each other "my dearest" and praise each other for new works.


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[Maestro267]

The First was (appropriately) the first Myaskovsky symphony I heard, along with the 13th on that Naxos disc from 2019 which cycle wound up never ever being worked on again. Thankfully I was able to afford the Alto box the following year, and that wound up being my major highlight purchase of The Lockdown Year.

[foxandpeng]

The First was (appropriately) the first Myaskovsky symphony I heard, along with the 13th on that Naxos disc from 2019 which cycle wound up never ever being worked on again. Thankfully I was able to afford the Alto box the following year, and that wound up being my major highlight purchase of The Lockdown Year.

I like #1, but for me, the real big hitters are his later works.

[Karl Henning]

I may not yet have listened to the First. And for now, I'll wait until I work my way thither.

[Roy Bland]