Symphony No.25 in D flat major - Nikolai Myaskovsky

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky

I - Adagio - Andante - Adagio - Andante - Adagio: 0:00
II - Moderato - Più lento: 12:39
III - Allegro impetuoso - Più tranquillo - A tempo - Poco largamente - In tempo - Adagio con elevazione - Molto adagio: 17:14

The twenty-fifth Myaskovsky symphony is the first written after the war. He started it during the summer of 1946, devoting a period of six months to finish it. It premiered on March 6, 1947 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of the URRS directed by Alexander Gauk. The work is dedicated to his friend the composer Levon Atovmian. Later this musician, as the censorship increased brutally, had serious problems with the Communist Party and could only be saved through the intervention of Shostakovich.

Written in three movements, Myaskovsky did not have great affection for this symphony, without knowing the reasons for it. In 1949 he made a revision of it. It could be that the greater freedom of composition through new techniques would seem to distance him from the public, a self-censorship this time perhaps not motivated by political reasons.

The first movement is based on a theme and a series of variations. The theme is typically Russian and according to Soviet critics is an epic portrait of the fatherland. His writing after the war can justify it. The music reaches moments of deep lyricism, but its author considered that it would not be fully captured by the public.

The second movement continues with the lyrical environment but with greater enthusiasm. This increases in its central part with the appearance of a theme with waltz rhythm. Then it returns to the initial tranquility,. A brief movement that could be taken as an intermezzo.

The last movement totally changes the environment. Written in sonata form, it has two differentiated themes, the first one with intense strength and the second one more reflective and lyrical. Continue with a worked development. After the recapitulation, the main theme of the first movement reappears, closing the work in a cyclical way.

Picture: The monument-ensemble "The Motherland Calls" (1967) by the Russian sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich.

Sources from this spanish website on Myaskovsky symphonism: http://www.historiadelasinfonia.es/naciones/la-sinfonia-en-rusia/miaskovsky/

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