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Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 - 1950), Piano Sonata No.1, Op.6 (1907 - 1910)
00:00 - No. 1 Moderato assai ed espressivo
04:03 - No. 2 Allegro affanato - Allegro con fuoco Allegro precipitato: quasi coda
11:58 - No. 3 Largo espressivo
19:06 - No. 4 Non allegro - Allegro - Molto moderato Maestoso e patetico
Perhaps arising from the need to create unity out of diversity and resolution out of conflict, Myaskovsky's works took shape as "a lifelong meditation on sonata form." Twenty-seven symphonies, thirteen string quartets and nine published piano sonatas bear that out. The sonatas represent every phase of his career, and like the other sonata-form works they show a preference for pianistic origins of his harmonic language and orchestral textures. Conversely the piano sonatas and string quartets tend toward symphonic breadth and the same sort of dynamic movement, development and inner tensions as the symphonies. Displaying neither extremes of virtuosity and brilliance nor striving after effect, the sonatas on the whole are not easy to play, and the first four in particular demand a high level of sophistication from the listener.
Not published in order of composition, the nine sonatas fall into four groups. Standing alone, the first belongs to the late romantic world of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Medtner. Also originating during his student years in St. Petersburg, the fifth and sixth sonatas were rewritten in 1944 to reflect the simpler clarity of his maturity. The second, third and fourth, also revised later, retain the excitement of the radical years and present a strange world filled with conflict and neurosis, conveying an assimilatino of Scriabin and the symbolist poets. The last three sonatas, intended as didactic pieces, express a simple, often folklike charm.
Supposedly Myaskovsky composed six piano sonatas before that in F sharp minor, which he published as his 2nd. It follows almost certainly that the highly accomplished sonata no.1 in D minor, op. 6, is not his first attempt but is the fruit of considerable experience. The innovative fugal opening traverses a century and a half in four minutes, taking us from Bach to the audacity of the early 20th century. A sonata allegro follows, perfumed with the fin de siecle romanticism of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff and cumulating in a mighty cadenza. Fugal elements, which permeate the movement, resurface in the middle part of the lyrical slow movement. As previously mentioned, the orchestral breadth as characteristic of Myaskovsky's piano writings asserts itself in the imposing finale, where romantic fervour and brilliance lead as last to a victorious transformation of the fugal opening.
