Nikolai Myaskovsky - Symphonies Nos. 5 & 11 (Konstantin Ivanov; Veronika Dudarova)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Myaskovsky

1. Symphonie No. 5 in D major, Op. 18: I. Allegro amiable
2. Symphonie No. 5 in D major, Op. 18: II. Lento (quasi andante)
3. Symphonie No. 5 in D major, Op. 18: III. Allegro burlando
4. Symphonie No. 5 in D major, Op. 18: IV. Allegro risoluto e con brio
5. Symphonie No. 11 in B minor, Op. 34: I. Lento - Allegro agitato
6. Symphonie No. 11 in B minor, Op. 34: II. Andante
7. Symphonie No. 11 in B minor, Op. 34: III. Precipitato - Allegro

USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra
Konstantin Ivanov, conductor (1-4)
Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Veronika Dudarova, conductor (5-7)

Date: 1993 (no recording date)
Label: Olympia (original recorded by Melodiya)

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Review

The slow movement of Miaskovsky's Eleventh Symphony is just what I mean by hints (see above) ''that he was capable of masterpieces''. It is a lovely piece, lyrically Russian but with a cool poise that can recall one of Sibelius's moods, and with some particularly effective woodwind writing, tender and liquid (at the heart of the movement is a flowing fugato for woodwind soloists alone). A pity about that quite unmotivated climax just before the end; the rest of the movement has real quality. There is a splendidly Russian tune in the last movement, too, and some resourceful dramatic working-out that only occasionally becomes melodramatic: does it matter that Miaskovsky gives us two develop- ments for the price of one? I am afraid it does, rather; eminently resourceful though he is, his material is more often histrionically juxtaposed than truly developed, and his movements are often organically unsatisfying: nothing would seem amiss if the coda to that finale arrived three or four minutes earlier than it does, or if the first movement of the same symphony ended with a whimper rather than a clamorous bang.

Still, one can always enjoy the enjoyable bits and leave the rest, and there are quite a few bits to enjoy. As well as about 95 per cent of that Andante they include the long and very beautiful opening paragraph of the Fifth Symphony: a smiling, flowing clarinet theme over warm string chords (to keep you listening it returns again after the tur- bulent but rather intermittent allegro proper and another of Miaskovsky's fugatos—he was rather good at them, but should have rationed himself to no more than one per symphony). The slow movement of the Fifth begins and ends well, too: plaintive woodwind phrases over cold string shivers lead to a melancholy, archaic Russian theme (there are two noisy climaxes and another fugato between its recurrences). And the folk-dance scherzo is attractive, saved from mere picturesqueness by its clean, scoring and spare harmony. The finale is less characterful, and builds its resplendently vociferous chorale-coda with less than total conviction; here and in the opening Allegro of the Eleventh, striking ideas are juxtaposed with commonplace ones that seem to have strayed from a film score. But a Miaskovsky masterpiece still seems possible; the Thirteenth and Sixteenth are highly spoken of by Western as well as by Soviet critics.

The performances are good, but the recording of the Fifth Symphony is not: the sound is extremely close-focused, with coarse, harsh tuttis. The Eleventh fares better, though the woodwind are still unnaturally close.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Myaskovsky-Symphony-No-Ivanov-Duderova/dp/B002RW9BOU

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Nikolai Myaskovsky (20 April [O.S. 8 April] 1881 – 8 August 1950) was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony". Myaskovsky wrote a total of 27 symphonies (plus three sinfoniettas, three concertos and works in other orchestral genres), 13 string quartets, 9 piano sonatas as well as many miniatures and vocal works. He is professor of composition at Moscow Conservatory from 1921 until his death, and há an important influence on his pupils. His students include big names such as  Aram Khachaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Rodion Shchedrin and Boris Tchaikovsky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Myaskovsky

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Konstantin Ivanov (1907–1984) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. The third man to hold the post of conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, he is known from a number of recordings made by the old USSR state recording company Melodiya. Ivanov was succeeded as Principal Conductor of the USSR Symphony Orchestra in 1965 by Evgeny Svetlanov. His reputation in later years was somewhat eclipsed by the rise of a younger generation of Soviet conductors such as Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky and Kondrashin, all of whom became much better known, and who travelled abroad more frequently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Ivanov_(conductor)

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Veronika Dudarova (December 5 [O.S. November 22] 1916 – January 15, 2009) was a Soviet and later Russian conductor, the first woman to succeed as conductor of symphony orchestras in the 20th century. Dudarova attended the school of music in Baku, the Leningrad Conservatory (1933–1937), and the Moscow Conservatory (1939–1947). She became the principal conductor of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in 1960 and led the orchestra until 1989. Dudarova led the Symphony Orchestra of Russia from 1991 to 2003, and retained the role of artistic manager of the orchestra until her death in Moscow in January 2009.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronika_Dudarova

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