Composer of the Week - Nicolay Yakovlevich Myaskovksy (1881-1950) - Episode 4

Donald Macleod explores the turbulent times before the Second World War, with Stalin attacking cultural figures and organisations. The Moscow Conservatoire where Myaskovsky was professor of composition, was renamed the Felix Kon School of Higher Musical Education, with the likes of Myaskovsky himself, Gliere and Gnesin being dismissed. Reading the signs Myaskovsky composed music more in line with Stalin's wishes, such as his village concertos, the 'Collective Farm' symphony, and the 19th Symphony, composed for the popular Red Army Band. Lyric Concertino for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon, harp and string orchestra, Op 32 No 3 (1929) - 1st mvt The Moscow New Opera Orchestra Yevgeny Samoilov (conductor) Olympia OCD528 Tr 7 Symphony No 12 in G minor, Op 35 (1931-2) - 3rd mvt Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra Evgeny Svetlanov (conductor) Olympia OCD735 Tr 7 Violin Concerto in D minor Op 44 (1938) - 2nd mvt Vadim Repin (violin) Kirov Orchestra Valery Gergiev (conductor) Philips 473343-2 Tr 5 Symphony No 19 in E flat for wind orchestra, Op 46 (1939) - 3rd, 4th mvts Stockholm Concert Band Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor) Chandos CHAN9444 Trs 9-10 String Quartet No 5 in E minor, Op 47 (1938-9) - 4th mvt Taneyev Quartet Russian Disc RC CD 11 032 Tr 6.