Synopsis

Between 1908 and 1950, Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky composed 27 symphonies. His Symphony No. 19 for wind band premiered on today’s date in 1939 at the Cominterm Radio Station in Moscow and was dedicated to the Red Army.

The Red Army’s bandmaster had asked Miaskovsky to write something for his ensemble, and at first the composer was reluctant. “The difficulties of this unusual task oppressed and discouraged me,” he wrote, “but I was anxious to keep my promise and soon mustered a fair spurt of energy, with the result that instead of a simple piece in one movement, I sent him a symphony in four.” The resulting work was, in fact, one of the normally melancholic Miaskovky’s most upbeat works.

Miaskovsky was a late starter as a composer, and when he was accepted into the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1906, he was the oldest student in his class. Nonetheless, he quickly befriended the youngest student in his class, one Sergei Prokofiev, and the two remained close and life-long colleagues.

While still students, Prokofiev and Miaskovsky worked jointly on a collaborative symphony — now lost — which, had it survived, would have added an eighth to Prokofiev’s and a 28th to Miaskovsky’s symphonic tally.

Music Played in Today's Program

Nikolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950): Symphony No. 19; Stockholm Concert Band; Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Gennady, conductor; Chandos 9444