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O.Bugrov, L.Roshchina

The history of the 20th century Russian music abounds in big names and events. But ranking as high were also the personalities who chose to follow the traditions of the past and who often found themselves, if unrightfully, in the shadows of their prominent colleagues. April 20th marked the 125th birthday of Nikolai Miaskovsky, a remarkable composer overshadowed by his great contemporaries.
Miaskovsky started to write music at a time when Alexander Scriabin was in the prime of his success. Scriabin's popularity was followed by that of the young Stravinsky, and hot on his heels was the impetuous Sergei Prokofieff. And just a few more years and everyone would be talking of Shostakovich. Nikolai Miaskovsky had thus every reason to complain of the iniquities of life. His talent was true and great but as the composer admitted himself, pursuit of the last word in musical techniques was not his line. Miaskovsky died in 1950 and the end of the 1950s saw yet another generation of brilliant composers: Georgy Sviridov, Rodion Shchedrin, Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov. Nikolai Miaskovsky found himself on the fringes of history. His music is played rarely if at all nowadays. His legacy is 27 symphonies, 13 string quartets, 9 piano sonatas, vocal and chamber opuses, concerto for the violin and the genuine masterpiece - Concerto for the cello with orchestra.
A military engineer, Nikolai Miaskovsky took up music at 25 and quickly came into his own due to his extensive knowledge and insatiable interest in contemporary music, both Russian and foreign. In his lifetime his pieces were performed in Russia and abroad by outstanding musicians, such as the American conductor Leopold Stokovsky and the German pianist Walter Guizeking.
Nowadays interest in Nikolai Miaskovsky's music comes in waves, which is attributed to particular initiatives. Several years ago conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded Miaskovsky's symphonies and one of the permanent interpreters of the composer was the famous maestro Kirill Kondrashin.
Miaskovsky's present-day admirers include the Moscow pianist Mikhail Lidsky, who is currently getting ready to record the composer's all piano sonatas. "The music is so sophisticated, it's a whole world - the world of Nikolai Miaskovsky. - the pianist says. - Is the composer getting the attention he deserves? No one knows, but I think it is no good that the performers walk past his music. This is a remarkable legacy and we have to know it to be able to give it a proper judgment and a place in general knowledge".
Nikolai Miaskovsky's vocation was teaching. For 30 years he taught in the Moscow Conservatory, where he brought up about 70 composers. Studying in his class were Aram Khachaturian, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Andrei Eshpai. Even when he was young himself Miaskovsky was a mentor of the musical young. His advice and critical remarks were sought by Sergei Prokofieff, with whom Miaskovsky was true friends for 45 years, and Dmitry Shostakovich.
The Moscow Conservatory has just hosted a big festival of Nikolai Miaskovsky's music. The series of concerts in honour of the composer will soon be continued by Gewandhaus Orchestra in Amsterdam. Miaskovsky is now being rediscovered and in all probability this century's listeners might heed the words of Sergei Prokofieff which he said of Miaskovsky: "The beauty of the material, the mastery of the presentation and the harmony of general expression makes it a genuinely great art".

  06/02/2006

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