Myaskovsky's Notebook of Lyrics, his last song-cycle, was a tribute to Mira Mendelson, the second wife of his close friend Sergei Prokofiev.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Myaskovsky's vocal works are characterized by 'twilight' tonalities and a reserved emotional palette, reflecting subtle spiritual reflections and complex counterpoint of feeling and thought.
Performer Biography
Both sopranos on this album, Tatiana Barsukova and Elizaveta Pakhomova, are making their debut recordings with this release.
Composer Biography
Nikolay Myaskovsky's vocal music, consisting of over a hundred songs and song-cycles, draws from both Russian and Western traditions.
Compositional Technique
Myaskovsky's Violin Sonata, Op. 90, features a unique structure for a sonata, with the first movement being a sonata-elegy and the second a theme with twelve variations and coda.
Recording & Production
This album includes a Violin Sonata alongside vocal works to echo a concert from Myaskovsky's lifetime, which featured both genres.
Composition History
Myaskovsky composed his Romances on Verses by Mikhail Lermontov, one of the peaks of Russian vocal music, within a single month.
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