Nikolay Miaskovsky (1881-1950)

[vandermolen]

Well, I managed to get one volume of the complete symphony set, including #27 and #15.   One of the worst things I can remember.  Poor audio quality, lackadaisical performance, incoherent composition.  Saved myself a lot of money!

I disagree. I believe that Symphony 15 and 27 are both fine works, especially No 27, Miaskovsky's swan song.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Well, I managed to get one volume of the complete symphony set, including #27 and #15.   One of the worst things I can remember.  Poor audio quality, lackadaisical performance, incoherent composition.  Saved myself a lot of money!

I don't like it from the samples myself, seems way to rambling and incoherent, remind me a bit of Pettersson I guess.

[vandermolen]

I don't like it from the samples myself, seems way to rambling and incoherent, remind me a bit of Pettersson I guess.

Fully respect your views but don't share them. Never thought of a Miaskovsky/Pettersson connection before, but they are both composers whose music means a lot to me. Maybe try Miaskovsky's Cello Concerto before you give up on him 

[mahler10th]

Miaskovsky

This is one composer who wrote exciting music with drama between the lines.  What a shame he has been duffed here and there.  Listening to Symphony 17 at the moment - typical Russian romanticism at its best, and most definitely on a par with more famous Russian composers.  Tell you what, I'd play Miaskovsky before Balkariev or his pals.
17th is great, but by no means his best methinks.

SCARPIA:  "One of the worst things I can remember.  Poor audio quality, lackadaisical performance, incoherent composition.  Saved myself a lot of money!"

Having listened to most of the set, this is not a review I can agree with - I hope you spend the cash you saved on something as good or better than Miaskovsky or...er...a Hearing Aid.

[Superhorn]

   I have CDs of several of the Myaskovsky symphonies, including some on Marco Polo which I believe have yet to appear on Naxos. Also, the Rostropovich and Mischa Maisky recordings of the cello concerto, and the Taneyev quartet with three string quartets.
  Myaskovsky's music is not the kind that has the immediate melodic appeal of Tchaikovsky,Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninov ,for example, but it has grown on me. There is something brooding and elusive about the music, almost like listening to someone's inner thoughts.
   The slow movement of the 8th symphony is absolutely haunting; it features an English horn solo playing a Tatar/Bashkir melody, and  sounds curiously American Indian. Did you know that the late,great ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev was an ethnic Tatar, and also the present day bass Ildar Abrazakov?

[Christo]

Did you know that the late, great ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev was an ethnic Tatar, and also the present day bass Ildar Abrazakov?

No. But I do know that Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina stems from Tatarstan and indeed from a Tatar dynasty of imams (as was her grandfather) - though from her mother's side she's Russian.

[Dundonnell]

There is a new Alto CD being released in November which contains a number of Miaskovsky's lesser orchestral works-

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_November08/ALC1041.htm

[Dundonnell]

The November issue of International Record Review carries a superb 3 page survey by Richard Whitehouse of the Svetlanov recordings of the Miaskovsky symphonies. (It also contains a 5 page survey of Messiaen on record!)

I cannot recommend this magazine highly enough for its detailed, comprehensive and serious approach to recorded music(so much better now than the Gramophone magazine!)

http://www.recordreview.co.uk/

[The new erato]

The November issue of International Record Review carries a superb 3 page survey by Richard Whitehouse of the Svetlanov recordings of the Miaskovsky symphonies. (It also contains a 5 page survey of Messiaen on record!)

I cannot recommend this magazine highly enough for its detailed, comprehensive and serious approach to recorded music(so much better now than the Gramophone magazine!)

http://www.recordreview.co.uk/

Is that Sarah Palin on the front cover?

I agree BTW and have been a strong supporter of IRR as the prime magazine if you are into records and don't need lots of stuff about celebrities, concerts and composer background which are better aquired through books anyway.

[Dundonnell]

It does look like her, doesn't it

Doubt that she plays the piano as well as Kathryn Stott though

[vandermolen]

Olympia were a small British company specialising in Russian/Soviet music. They were I believe more or less bankrupted over the problems experienced with Svetlanov's widow over the release of their Miaskovsky series. The CD issues fizzled out about two thirds of the way through which was very frustrating for Miaskovsky nutters (sorry, connoisseurs) like myself. Fortunately, through a deal with Olympia, Alto have released the remaining Miaskovsky recordings over the last couple of years (with two more to go). The Award winning Warner box has caused uproar at Alto as they beleive that Mrs Svetlanov ('Baba Yaga') did a deal, behind their back with Warner after having agreed to an exclusive release with Alto.

Olympia CDs were well known for their attractive socialist realist cover art the Miaskovsky series, presumably for financial reasons,used the same uniform design with different colours (a bit like the much more drab Bax Symphony LP series on Lyrita). Also, the Olympias were highly regarded for the excellent booklet notes from Per Skans. I have many of the releases including fine symphonies by Shebalin, Popov, Weinberg, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Glazunov and, of course, Miaskovsky.

The Olympias are now sold for ridiculous prices on amazon etc. Some stuff is being released on Regis or Alto but by no means all of it for reasons of copyright. I have asked Alto to look into the possibility of reissuing the old Olympias of Weinberg's choral 6th symphony and his Piano Quintet.

[The new erato]

Thanks for clearing this up. I feel almost sorry for buying the Warner box, particularly in regard of Altos' fine packaging and notes. My main concern, however, was never being able to get the symphonies issued by Olympia if I bought tha Alto single discs (I have a couple). And Olympia is really sorely missed. Fortunately I have the 6th (both as a Melodiya LP and CD).

[Daverz]

Also, the Olympias were highly regarded for the excellent booklet notes from Per Skans.

And let's not forget that if you have all the Olympia releases and collect all the Alto releases, their spines will spell out

N I K O L A I M Y A S K O V S K Y

when arranged on your shelf.

I'm a cheap and impatient bastard and got the Warner set when it first came out in France.

[Lethevich]

I am going to buy the Warner box at some point in the future, as while I am not happy to condone the actions against such an enterprising small label, I simply cannot afford the alternative...

And let's not forget that if you have all the Olympia releases and collect all the Alto releases, their spines will spell out

N I K O L A I M Y A S K O V S K Y

when arranged on your shelf.

Cute - my Judas Priest CDs do the same

[vandermolen]

Thanks for clearing this up. I feel almost sorry for buying the Warner box, particularly in regard of Altos' fine packaging and notes. My main concern, however, was never being able to get the symphonies issued by Olympia if I bought tha Alto single discs (I have a couple). And Olympia is really sorely missed. Fortunately I have the 6th (both as a Melodiya LP and CD).

I bought the Warner box myself although I feel a bit disloyal to Alto for doing so. I also have all the Olympias and Altos. If you haven't already collected the Olympias the Warner box is the only way of collecting the whole series.

[Maciek]

The Weinberg symphonies when arranged on the shelf spelled out "Nikolai Myaskovsky"? Sounds kind of subversive...

[vandermolen]

The Weinberg symphonies when arranged on the shelf spelled out "Nikolai Myaskovsky"? Sounds kind of subversive...

[Dundonnell]

There is a new Alto CD being released in November which contains a number of Miaskovsky's lesser orchestral works-

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_November08/ALC1041.htm

Listening to this new cd as I type! The excellent notes for the cd are written again by our own vandermolen(he goes by the pseudonym of Jeffrey Davis for the purpose ).

Not necessarily the greatest music Miaskovsky wrote-certainly compared to the symphonies or the cello and violin concertos-but worth hearing nevertheless. I was impressed by the opening movement of "Links" and by the Slav Rhapsody.

Not quite sure why Alto label the Serenade as "No.1" since I don't think Miaskovsky wrote more than one. Is it a confusion with the opus number: Op.32/1?

Alto will be releasing a further cd next month containing the Symphonic Poem "Silence"(already available in a so-so performance on Marco Polo), the Divertissement and the Sinfonietta, Op.32/2.

Jeffrey:by my calculations that leaves the Symphonic Poem "Alastor", the Pathetic Overture, the Lyric Concertino and the Sinfonietta in A minor, op.68/2. These last two works were on old Olympia discs, although the Sinfonietta was, puzzlingly, called No.2 when surely it is actually No.3(the op.10, op.32/2 and 68/2). Do you know how these are being coupled? It seems to me that in total they are (just) too long for a single cd.

PS: the slow movement of the Serenade is lovely

[Superhorn]

    Here's  an  interesting  story. While  checking  out  a  website  about  the  Tatars  of  Russia,  a  list there of  famous  ethnic  Tatars  or  Russians  of  Tatar  descent  included  none  other  than  Rachmaninov  himself  !  Apparently  his  family  was  of  Tatar  origin . Some  converted  from  Islam  to  Orthodox  Christianity. 
   I  like  Balakirev's  music,  and wish  that  conductors  would  play  his  wonderfully  melodious  first  symphony  instead  of  the  same  old  ones  by  Tchaikovsky,  marvelous  as  those  are.  From his  facial  appearance,  Balakirev  probably  had  Tatar  ancestry.

[Daverz]

I cannot recommend this magazine highly enough for its detailed, comprehensive and serious approach to recorded music(so much better now than the Gramophone magazine!)

http://www.recordreview.co.uk/

Ouch, $99/year for US delivery.  For that I can get a year of both Fanfare and ARG, and have $10 left over to buy a CD.  What kind of page count does a typical issue of IRR have?