Nikolai Myaskovsky : Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 13 (Enzo)

[emill]

I was searching the forum for program notes material and YouTube for video recordings and was quite surprised at the sparsity especially of recordings. There is actually no video recording even in YT of any of Myaskovsky's piano sonatas done by a name pianist. I always thought, although I am not a pianist that Miaskovsky was as popular as Alexander Scriabin. Now I know, he is definitely not popular ... I wonder why?

Pls. allow this proud dad to share, the Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor as performed by Enzo as he was trying out various "lesser known" brand of pianos in a store here in Manila. This was played on a Seiler semi-full grand. Audio was on a Tascam recorder.

Comments and observations are so welcome! 

[mjames]

Discovered him through his symphonies and I was also quite surprised that he wasn't popular. this seems to be the case wth many, and many, great composers. further perpetuates the belief that just because a composer isn't popular doesnt mean he was wasn't immensely talented.

I enjoyed the performance. Really nice stuff.

[cbreemer]

Great repertoire choice ! Myaskovsky was always more respected than popular. I do not know all that much of his work but what I heard is very worthy to stand alongside Scriabin and Prokofiev,
although maybe just a touch less immediately appealing.
Your son is not just insanely talented, but already a mature musician. He hardly puts a foot wrong
in this apparently very difficult sonata. Pity that the Seiler is rather out of tune in the treble.
He should be recording in a studio on a proper grand. He could have made a bit more of the
closing bars, these chords seem rather to dry and short. But this is real nitpicking... I wish I had a tenth of this guy's talent.

[emill]

X.X.X.X... perpetuates the belief that just because a composer isn't popular doesn't mean he was wasn't immensely talented. I enjoyed the performance. Really nice stuff.

Unfortunately for many of the "concert-going-public", that is a prevailing view - if you are not popular like Beethoven, Chopin or Rachmaninoff, you must be poor in talent (or else you should have risen).
Thanks for the encouraging comment on Enzo's playing.

X.X.X... Myaskovsky was always more respected than popular. I do not know all that much of his work but what I heard is very worthy to stand alongside Scriabin and Prokofiev, although maybe just a touch less immediately appealing.  Your son is not just insanely talented, but already a mature musician. He hardly puts a foot wrong in this apparently very difficult sonata. Pity that the Seiler is rather out of tune in the treble.

YES, that would be a more correct way to put it - Miaskovsky is respected as a composer (among musicians), but not popular in the "concert-going-public". Although some would say he is "underrated" as a composer which would probably have a different connotation.  Thanks so much for the "insanely" description ... this dad's heart is about to burst!  

[rachfan]

Hi emill

Bravo!  This is a wonderful performance by Enzo.  I had not heard this sonata previously, and am not familiar with the composer.  I noticed that the piece sometimes quotes from Gregorian Chant from the 1200s the "Dies Irae" -- Latin for "Day of Wrath" -- which becomes a theme with some interesting variations too.  Many composers have drawn on the famous Dies Irae.  Very clever and effective in this instance.  This must be a "bear" of a piece to play so well though!

Kudos to Enzo for his brilliant playing.  

David

 

[emill]

Hi David,

As you accurately observed, the theme of the Gregorian chant ""Dies Irae"" is recurring in this composition and yes, it is effectively used.  Let me also post the program notes by David Nelson:

Among the finest of Miaskovsky’s compositions is the pessimistic yet powerful Sonata No. 2 in F Sharp Minor, composed in 1912 and revised in 1948. It bares the composer’s inner turbulence, and its structure displays impressive formal control. The slow but forceful introduction’s rich chords establish a harmonic ambience closely related to Scriabin’s sound-world. An air of anxiety enters with the first subject appropriately marked “Allegro affanato” (anguished), and finds relief in the contrasting beauty of the second theme.

Completing the exposition is a third idea, the “Dies Irae”, or “Day of Wrath”, the day of judgment, the summoning of souls before God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames. That theme, along with fragments of the first and second subjects, plays an important role in the development section, where Miaskovsky shows an impressive mastery of contrapuntal and variation techniques. After a straightforward reprise, there follows an insistent, ever-accelerating fugue, based on the first subject and the “Dies Irae”. The marking “Allegro disperato” (desperation) eloquently describes the concluding psychological state. 

THANKS for the very encouraging comments about Enzo. He really works hard for it. Although frankly I worry a lot about the future, I am also so glad and relieved that he is doing very well in music school, in the midst of excellent competition. And since he chose a Russian and Russian schooled mentor, he is now understandably more exposed to that school of classical piano.  He will be attending for several weeks a music festival in Maine this summer and will be under another Russian, the chair of the Peabody piano department. My fingers are crossed.

Best wishes to you David!