18th Symphony (Myaskovsky)

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18th symphony
key C major
opus 42
Sentence names
  • I Allegro risoluto
  • II Lento, ma non troppo. Andante
  • III Allegro giocoso
Total duration approx. 24 minutes
Composed 1937
occupation Symphony orchestra
premiere On October 1, 1937 in Moscow under the
direction of Alexander Wassiljewitsch Gauk
dedication "For the XX. Anniversary of the October Revolution "

The Symphony in C major, Op. 42, is the 18th symphony by the composer Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski .

History of origin

Myaskovsky began work on the 18th symphony in July 1937 in Nikolina Gora ( Rublevka ), shortly after he had orchestrated the 17th symphony . He composed the work in a very short time, and so the piano version was completed by the beginning of August. He made the instrumentation in a week in September so that the work could be performed on time for the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution .

analysis

The overall mood of the symphony is bright and festive, the vocal motifs remain clear and are not widely varied and dramatized, as is often the case with Mjaskowski. The first movement in C major is determined by a short, memorable motif made up of the tone sequence gag. The second movement is in A minor . It consists of a theme (Lento) and variations, the last of which ends in A major . The dance-like third movement takes up the mood of the first and is like this in C major. With a performance of less than 25 minutes, the work is one of the composer's shortest multi-movement symphonies.

Reception and criticism

The 18th symphony was premiered on October 1, 1937. This made it the first work by the composer to be performed after the celebrated 16th Symphony . It was unable to build on their great success and, like all other works by Mjaskowski of this period, was in their shadow for a long time. The musicologist Georgi Nikititsch Chubow wrote about the work that it was a search for “classical simplicity and clarity of musical expression [... in order to] find a symphonic language that is close to the people and the masses.” Nevertheless, it lacks “depth and Importance of Philosophical Thoughts ”. On the occasion of the Days of Soviet Music in Moscow in 1938, the symphony was played in an arrangement for wind orchestra by the military bandmaster IV Petrov. Mjaskowski was present and was enthusiastic about the interpretation. He then decided to write his 19th symphony for wind orchestra.

literature

  • CD supplement Warner Music France 2564 69689-8 (Miaskovsky: Intégrale des Symphonies, Evgeny Svetlanov (cond.))
  • Soja Gulinskaja: Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski. Moscow 1981, German Berlin 1985

Web links