Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular recording of a great symphony, 12 Jul 2002
It seems that Miaskovsky is at last coming in out of the cold, what with the commencement of a complete survey of the symphonies on the excellent Olympia label and now a Miaskovsky symphony on DGG as well!
This is, I think, the fifth recording of what is widely considered to be Miaskovsky's finest work. Let me say at once that it is a very fine performance and the recording quality is head and shoulders above any of the other versions. I have never heard so much detail in the work before (for example the funereal drum beats at the close of the first movement)
The other recently released version under the late Evgeny Svetlanov on Olympia is also a powerful performance but, unfortunately, Svetlanov dispenses with the optional chorus in the last movement which, in my opinion, leads to a slightly less spine-tingling apotheosis (although it is interesting to hear both versions)
In the new Jarvi version the Gothenburg chorus comes across powerfully, creating a memorable conclusion that resonates in the mind for a long time afterwards. The beautifully nostalgic flute passage in the Trio section of the scherzo, second movement, also is beautifully played and is one of the composer's finest and most poetic inspirations.
The presentation is excellent with an imaginative, if rather gloomy, cover design and a typically soulful portrait photo of the young composer. David Fanning provides an informative essay and also a new translation of the choral section of this remarkable symphony.
Although I would not wish to be without the classic Kondrashin recording on Russian Disc, I regard Jarvi's terrific new recording as desert island material!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A majestic performance of a lesser-known masterpiece, 7 Aug 2002
By all accounts, a superb disc. It would seem that Miaskovsky is undergoing a late rehabilitation but given the evidence before us, it has been well worth the wait. This is a dense late-romantic masterpiece full of Franckian/Wagnerian chromaticism encouched in lush orchestration; like a fine claret, what more could you ask for? Admittedly the melodic invention is not in the same class as the likes of Tchaikovsky or even Shostakovich but it is still of premium quality. This performance does full justice to the epic scale and breadth of this great symphony.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a convert yet., 5 Aug 2009
When I first started to explore the more esoteric byways of classical music in the early 70s the name of Miaskovsky scarcely even glimmered. Nowadays there's a pretty fat discography and the gent is not without his admirers but his orchestral works still make only the occasional appearance in the concert hall. Why? Perhaps the answer is to be found in this, his sixth symphony, one of the most ambitious and highly regarded works of this prolific composer. I purchased this release a few years ago but after listening to it a couple of times the symphony failed to resonate with me and it went back on the shelf to collect dust. Well, I dusted it down the other day and decided to give Miaskovsky the benefit of the doubt. Sorry to say, it's back on the shelf. It's a brassy, noisy work, densely orchestrated and with plenty of drama ("seething chromaticism " is the apt term employed in the CD notes), but Miaskovsky's musical ideas,thematic material and tunes are decidedly nine carat and rapidly fade from memory once the symphony's over. Indeed the most attractive and memorable part of the symphony is the haunting and slightly exotic choral sequence, a Russian chant, that brings it to a close. But where had I heard this kind of music before I asked myself. In those biblical film epics of the 50s and 60s I realised. After shades of Wagner, Rachmaninov and Richard Strauss, a foreshadowing of Miklos Rosza! Miaskovsky does not seem to me to possess that prerequisite of a great composer,even of lesser composers, namely a distinctive voice of his own.
This is a magnificent five star performance and recording of (in my opinion)an ambitious but, ultimately, three star symphony. If you haven't yet investigated the symphonies of Skriabin, Bortkiewicz, Gliere (his third), Shostakovich or even the rather noisy and bloated efforts of Khachaturian then I'd do so before embarking on Miaskovsky's sixth. At least most of them will linger in your mind after a second hearing.
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