Symphony No. 13 (Myaskovsky) Explained

The Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 by Nikolai Myaskovsky was composed in 1933.

It is in one movement in three sections:^[1]

1. Andante moderato
2. Agitato molto e tenebroso
3. Andante nostalgico

Its premiere was conducted by Leo Ginzburg. It received possibly its first performance in recent times on 9 November 1994^[2] in a BBC Radio 3 broadcast from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka.^[3]
Its central section contains a fugato in B minor, and "peters out"^[3] with quiet B minor dissonant chords.^[4]

It is among Myaskovsky's more dissonant compositions.^[3]

The symphony lasts about 20 minutes in performance.^[5] It was apparently not published until 1945.

Recordings

• Evgeny Svetlanov, Russian Academic Federation Symphony Orchestra (Russian Disc, Melodiya, Olympia OCD 733, Warner) (recorded between 1991 and 1993)^[6]

External links

• (PD-CA only - public domain in the USA around 2040 or so, in the EU around 2026.)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Miaskovsky Opus List. van Rijen. Onno. 31 December 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140513233431/http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/miasopus.htm. 13 May 2014.
2. Web site: CADENSA search. 4 January 2010.
3. Web site: Review of Olympia CD of Symphonies 3 and 13. 31 December 2009. March 2002.
4. observation from score.
5. 20 minutes both in Svetlanov's recording and in Rozhdestvenskii's broadcast recording.
6. Web site: Library Reference for Recording Dates. 4 January 2010. The reference does not note that the other work on the CD, Symphony No. 3, was recorded several decades earlier by Svetlanov and not re-recorded for this cycle.