Myaskovsky's Third

Synopsis

In Moscow on today’s date in 1915 a new symphony by the Russian composer Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky received its premiere performance.

This Third Symphony was finished in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Myaskovsky would be called up for service on the Austrian front, be wounded and suffer shell-shock. He survived the traumatic years of the Russian Revolution, and by the 1920s and 30s, achieved international fame as one of the finest composers of the new Soviet Union.

These days, performances of any of the twenty-seven symphonies he completed before his death in 1950 are rare events. Between 1991 and 1993, the late conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov made recordings of all twenty-seven during the breakup of the Soviet Union, starting the project with the “USSR State Academic Orchestra” and ending it with the “State Symphony of the Russian Federation.” It’s said that when state funding ran out, Svetlanov paid orchestral musicians out of his own pocket to complete the project.

In liner notes for the recordings, Svetlanov described Myaskovsky as “the bridge between Russian classics and Soviet music... a great toiler like Haydn, Mozart and Schubert who invented his own style, his own intonations and manner while enriching and developing the glorious tradition of Russian music.”

Only time will tell if Myaskovsky’s twenty-seven symphonies will be “rediscovered” as were the similarly once-neglected nine of Bruckner and Mahler.

Music Played in Today's Program

Nikolai Myaskovsky Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 15 USSR State Academic Orchestra; Yevgeny Svetlanov, cond. Olympia CD OCD 733 (original issue on single CD) or Warner Classics CD 513844 (boxed set of all 27 Symphonies)

On This Day

Births

• 1848 - English composer (Sir) Hubert Parry, in Bournemouth;

Deaths

• 1887 - Russian composer Alexander Borodin, age 53, at a fancy dress ball in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 15);

Premieres

• 1729 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 159 ("Sehet, wie gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem") probably performed in Leipzig on Estomihi Sunday as part of Bach's fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. "Picander") during 1728/29;

• 1737 - Handel: opera “Giustino,” in London (Julian date: Feb. 16);

• 1740 - Handel: oratorio “L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato,” in London at Lincoln’s Inn Field, with the premiere of Handel’s Organ Concerto in Bb, Op. 7, no. 1 (Gregorian date: Mar. 9);

• 1814 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 8, in Vienna, with composer conducting;

• 1908 - Amy Beach: Piano Quintet, at Boston's Potter Hall, with the Hoffmann Quartet and the composer at the piano;

• 1913 - Walter Damrosch: opera, "Cyrano de Bergerac," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City;

• 1915 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 3, in Moscow (Julian date: Feb. 14);

• 1940 - William Schuman: String Quartet No. 3, at Town Hall in New York City, by the Coolidge Quartet;

• 1945 - Amy Beach: opera "Cabildo," by the Opera Workshop at the University of Georgia in Athens, directed by Hugh Hodgson; The first professional production occurred on May 13, 1995, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City as a "Great Performances" telecast conducted by Ransom Wilson;

• 1947 - Hindemith: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell conducting, with Jesús Maria Sanromá the soloist;

• 1947 - Peter Mennin: Symphony No. 3, by the New York Philharmonic, Walter Hendel conducting;

• 1949 - Elliott Carter: Woodwind Quintet, at Times Hall in New York City, at a new music concert of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors, sharing a program with Henry Cowell's Suite for Wind Quintet, Vincent Perischetti's "Pastorale," Richard Franko Goldman's Duo for Tubas, Ingolf Dahl's "Music for Five Brass Instruments," and a revised version of Carl Ruggles; "Angles" for seven brass instruments;

• 1949 - Wm. Schuman: Symphony No. 6, by the Dallas Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting;

• 1950 - Elliott Carter: Cello Sonata, at Town Hall in New York, by cellist Bernard Greenhouse and pianist Anthony Markas;

• 1958 - Peter Mennin: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchesttra conducted by George Szell, with Eunice Podis the soloist;

• 1984 - Libby Larsen: "Parachute Dancing" for orchestra, by the American Composers Orchestra, Tom Nee conducting;

• 1986 - U. Zimmermann: opera "Weisse Rose" (White Rose), in Hamburg by the Opera stabile;

• 1999 - Peter Lieberson: Horn Concerto, at Carnegie Hall, with soloist William Purvis and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Others

• 1885 - First documented American performance of Handel's Concerto Grosso in B Minor (op. 6, no.12), by the Boston Symphony, William Gericke conducting.