# SS 13.04.19 - Myaskovsky #21



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
_*
*For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Nikolai Myaskovsky **(1881 - 1950)*

Symphony No. 21 in F sharp minor, Op. 51
1. Andante sostenuto - Allegro non troppo ma con impeto - Tempo I__

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!_


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is upon us and another symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This week it's composer Nikolai Myaskovsky's Twenty-First symphony. I've heard all of his symphonies but haven't really digested them all so I'm looking forward to hearing this one again. It's a short one so I hope everyone can join in. I'll be listening to this one on disc but I'll post a YouTube link as well as this one doesn't have lots of recordings.





Evgeny Svetlanov/State Academic Symphonic Orchestra of Russia


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

This is a wonderful work. Always happy to listen to Miaskovsky. Svetlanov here as well.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Spotify is my friend


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)




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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A brief note on Svetlanov’s performance of this symphony from Rob Barnett @ Musicweb-international.com:

“The wartime Twenty-First is also superbly done and is allocated a single track. Svetlanov's command of atmosphere is immediate. I had forgotten how the introduction before the ‘cavalry charge’ figure was so close to the expressionist angst of symphonies 7 and 13. After a moment of skirling power and tramping fugal character the music rises to a peak of tortured triumph. The work settles into a Sibelian shimmer at the close with some plangent bass-emphasised pizzicato writing.”


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

My current favorite by Miaskovsky, along with the 9th. I too have the Svetlanov complete set.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Mika said:


> View attachment 116107
> 
> Spotify is my friend


Same here from Spotify


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic for me.

Just kidding. Do we have any choice? Not that Svetlavov is in any way dubious, but it's so sad that his huge labour of love in recording these wonderful pieces is all we have.

My own personal favourite has to be No.16, the Aviation Symphony. This is a good one too, great stuff!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

It appears that the 21st Symphony isn’t a “war symphony” at all! Wiki writes, “In the 1930s, Myaskovsky was also one of two Russian composers championed by Frederick Stock, the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra… Stock met Myaskovsky in March 1938 at the invitation of the Composers Union. He commissioned Myaskovsky's 21st Symphony (Symphony-Fantasy in F-sharp minor) for the Chicago Symphony's Fiftieth Anniversary. The first performance was in Moscow on November 6, 1940 (conducted by Aleksandr Gauk); Stock conducted the Chicago premiere on December 26, 1940.”

Both premieres were a half-year prior to the German invasion of the USSR, when the latter country was not at war nor expecting a war.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

More of that sparse thing called information here!

http://americansymphony.org/symphony-no-21-in-f-sharp-minor-op-51/


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Nikolai Myaskovsky Symphony No.21 (1940)

Siberian Symphony Orchestra (Omsk Philharmonic), Dmitry Vasiliev.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I have the Svetlanov set but I also had this lurking on the hard drive (no idea where its come from). I suspect it came from one of those old hard drives of mine that I rescued a while back. It's 320k so good enough qualty to listen.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Will also try the live Siberian Symphony Orchestra on You Tube


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I listened to this symphony a couple of times and read what I could about it, primarily the link provided by Cute ‘n Cuddly Bartok in post #11. It seems that Myaskovsky just doesn’t do it for me. The music is clear enough, quite listenable, but there’s nothing to pull me into M’s sound world like there is with so many works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke and the like. Even Weinberg seems (usually) more arresting.

I’m not criticizing the work, but it simply fails to involve me. Unfortunately, this seems to be true of Myaskovsky in general.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> I listened to this symphony a couple of times and read what I could about it, primarily the link provided by Cute 'n Cuddly Bartok in post #11. It seems that Myaskovsky just doesn't do it for me. The music is clear enough, quite listenable, but there's nothing to pull me into M's sound world like there is with so many works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke and the like. Even Weinberg seems (usually) more arresting.
> 
> I'm not criticizing the work, but it simply fails to involve me. Unfortunately, this seems to be true of Myaskovsky in general.


If you have the patience and haven't heard his Ninth, give this a try:






The Svetlanov performance of this is ponderous.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

missed this 'SS' as I was away last weekend so will rectify tomorrow by listening to at least one recording......Myaskovsky is established as one of my personal favourites so any excuse!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

EdwardBast said:


> If you have the patience and haven't heard his Ninth, give this a try:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks EB, I'll do that.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

after a long day I am now listening to the 21st and 17th performed by Svetlanov and the Russian Federation Academic S.O.

This CD also includes the Salutatory Overture, written for Soviet State radio on the occasion of Stalin's 60th birthday in 1939!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

KenOC said:


> I listened to this symphony a couple of times and read what I could about it, primarily the link provided by Cute 'n Cuddly Bartok in post #11. It seems that Myaskovsky just doesn't do it for me. The music is clear enough, quite listenable, but there's nothing to pull me into M's sound world like there is with so many works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke and the like. Even Weinberg seems (usually) more arresting.
> 
> I'm not criticizing the work, but it simply fails to involve me. Unfortunately, this seems to be true of Myaskovsky in general.


Disappointingly, a couple of listens over the past week or so, and I am with Ken on this. I enjoyed this Symphony the first few times I heard it, but it just didn't grab me this time around. Not true of all Myaskovsky for me, there's plenty to enjoy in that Svetlavov box...

I have similar feelings occasionally with Weinberg, obviously "meant" music, but difficult to really identify with. I have singularly failed to find anything in Schnittke to enjoy. It sounds empty to me, the N in his name redundant....


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