On the year of its 85th anniversary, the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic presents Myaskovsky. Dialogues Project dedicated to one of the greatest symphonists of the 20th century, Nikolay Myaskovsky. From March 9 to March 13 symphonic, cantata-oratorio, chamber instrumental and vocal works, created during the period of 1920-1940, will be presented on the stage of the Grand Hall of Sverdlovsk Philharmonic.
The scale of Nikolay Myaskovsky's creative personality puts him on a par with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich, but today his name is practically forgotten in Russia. It is better known abroad than in his native country.
Myaskovsky was destined to combine two epochs – those of Imperial and Soviet Russia. A hereditary nobleman, brought up on the ideals of Russian culture of the 19th century, at the age of 36 he found himself in the realities of the Soviet era and was adopted by the new rule. He was a member of major art councils, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, who trained more than 80 talented students. Many were annoyed by his political independence, loyalty to his inner voice, but his standing in the professional community was unshakable. However, in the late 1940s, Myaskovsky, along with other authors, was accused of formulism, his works blacklisted and labeled ‘anti-repertoire’. For years his music would be considered "... alien to the Soviet people and their artistic tastes, preaching dissonance and disharmony, reflecting the dead end of musical art" (from the decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, 10.02.1948).
2021 marks the 140th anniversary of birth of Nikolay Myaskovsky. To tell the listeners about him, to acquaint them with the legacy of one of the foremost Russian composers of the 20th century, and recall the Philharmonic’s own history associated with the name of Myaskovsky, are the main tasks of the Project.
The three concerts of Myaskovsky. Dialogues will be live streamed at Sverdlovsk Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall www.sgaf.ru/vkz:
• March 9: Dialogue with the Epoch
The Project will open with the presentation of Myaskovsky-Quartet ensemble. The name of the composer will be assigned to the String Quartet of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, for which this historic event is associated with the revival of the performing traditions of the Ural string school. The ensemble will perform the Thirteenth String Quartet, for which Myaskovsky was posthumously awarded his fifth State Stalin’s Prize.
The Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Rudin will present Myaskovsky's Seventeenth Symphony and join forces with Yekaterinburg Philharmonic Choir to perform one of the author's previously forbidden works - Kremlin by Night Cantata-Nocturne.
• March 11: A Life-Long Dialogue. Myaskovsky and Prokofiev
The heartland of the Project is this literary and musical performance featuring musical works by Nikolay Myaskovsky and Sergei Prokofiev, intermittent with their letters to each other. Their friendly and professional dialogue, which was going on for more than 40 years, will be continued in the 21st century by soprano Maria Ostroukhova, pianists Yuri Favorin and Konstantin Tyulkin, elocutionists Alexander Borisov and Ildar Garifullin, and the author of the programme -music critic Olga Rusanova.
• March 13: Dialogue with Fate
The Project will conclude with the epochal and tragic Sixth Symphony by Myaskovsky performed by the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Liss, and the composer's late masterpiece Cello Concerto with Alexander Ramm as soloist.
Myaskovsky’s Sixth Symphony has a special significance for the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra. Fifteen years ago the Orchestra recorded it for Warner Classics, and in 2007 presented it at the Second Festival of World Symphony Orchestras in Moscow. This work was performed in the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall much earlier too – during the first seasons of the Orchestra, directed by its first conductors Mark Paverman and Alexander Friedlander, who were trained under Myaskovsky’s close colleagues Konstantin Saradzhev and Alexander Gauk.
The side programme of the Project will complement the musical experience with three art exhibitions:
• Russian National Museum of Music’s exhibit about N.Y. Myaskovsky’s work. Small Foyer of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic
• Music of Soviet and Russian composers in the programmes of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic online exhibit on www.sgaf.ru
• Suprematist exhibit of the contemporary artist Anton Taxis. Grand Foyer of Sverdlovsk Philharmonic
Project Organizer: Sverdlovsk Philharmonic
Side Program Partner: Russian National Museum of Music
The concerts will be held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation as part of the All-Russian Philharmonic Seasons.
