Nikolai Myaskovsky

Nikolai Myaskovsky

Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony".-Early years and first important works:...

's Symphony No. 20 in E major

E major

E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....

, his Op.

Opus number

An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...

 50, was written in 1940. It is dedicated to Yuri Shaporin. The symphony was premiered on 28 November 1940 by Nikolai Golovanov conducting the Large All-Union Radio SO

Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio

The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio is a Russian classical music orchestra established in 1930. Originally founded as the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, it served as the official symphony for the Soviet All-Union Radio network...

. It has three movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

:

1. Allegro con spirito (ca. 8 minutes)
2. Adagio, in C major
   C major
   C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
   
    (ca. 9 minutes, initial tempo
   Tempo
   In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
   
    quarter note
   Quarter note
   A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
   
   =52)
3. Allegro inquieto, in E minor
   E minor
   E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...
   
    (ca. 10 minutes)

The first movement is in sonata form

Sonata form

Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

. The Adagio is on two themes, in C and in A, which appear contrapuntally

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 at the reappearance of the first; it has the form A-B (l'Istesso tempo, Andantino)-A'-B'-coda. The finale is a rondo

Rondo

Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...

 whose E major concluding pages incorporate a climactic reappearance by the main theme of the Adagio, leading Richard Taruskin

Richard Taruskin

Richard Taruskin is an American-Russian musicologist, music historian, and critic who has written about the theory of performance, Russian music, fifteenth-century music, twentieth-century music, nationalism, the theory of modernism, and analysis. As a choral conductor he directed the Columbia...

 to remark of this symphony that it is Myaskovsky's "Land of Hope and Glory".

Recordings

• Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra, 1991-3 recordings appearing variously on Russian Disc, Olympia OCD 739, and Warner CDs