Comments on: Ooh, you are awful…but I like you.

By: John Halliwell

John Halliwell — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:20:52 +0000

I do find those final minutes very moving, MM, especially the introduction of the chorus; it always makes me think of parts of Rachmaninov’s Vespers; music that at some point in our existence, we should all experience live in a great cathedral, around midnight, three feet of snow outside, and not giving a fig about the journey home. But now we are talking about truly great music.

By: mahlerman

mahlerman — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:48:18 +0000

Most emphically no, JH – hardly a ‘great’ symphony but, like many of the 27 he wrote, a rather wonderful piece, with a particularly moving last movement with chorus. Easy to hear why you love it

By: John Halliwell

John Halliwell — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:04:07 +0000

Was Myaskovsky’s Sixth Symphony second-rate? I haven’t a clue; perhaps those who are expert in the technicalities of symphonic composition would argue it’s too long at 70 plus minutes; poorly structured; a sprawling mess, lacking a unifying central thread. I love it and I think one reason I love it is because of having read of the influences uppermost in Myaskovsky’s mind when he composed the symphony: first-hand experience of the Great War, in which he suffered shell-shock; the Bolshevick Revolution; personal losses such as the death of the aunt who had taught him piano and looked after him following his mother’s death and who had died in a flat described as ‘bleak, cheerless and very cold; the wind whistling in the chimneys.’ The bitter cold froze the corpse and the impressions were so powerful in Myaskovsky’s mind that he felt he had to include them in the scherzo of the Sixth Symphony. When I listen to the symphony I have this background in mind and find myself interpreting it as programmatic; possibly the last thing in Myaskovsky’s mind. Well, a damned good story, even if made up in one’s own head, accompanied by music like this is irresistable. Here is the scherzo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gr83nqFPc8

By: mahlerman

mahlerman — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 15:54:42 +0000

Quite so PW. The concerto has been hacked about many times in the 100 odd years of its existence – most notably in this reduction by Aleksandr Ziloti. Used here by Gilels/Maazel/New Philharmonia (I think), it strikes a reasonable balance with the overlong first movement and the rather crass finale. You and many others feel that cutting anything from such a beautiful creation is a desecration, and on those grounds I give way!

By: Philip Wilkinson

Philip Wilkinson — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:41:48 +0000

A few years ago I chanced on a recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 2. My brain switched off part-way through the first movement and then, as the second started, I was suddenly aware of this extraordinary melody and was hooked – the thing is a terrible earworm that takes a whole day to shake off. Those who don’t know the piece should be aware that the video embedded here is only about half of the whole glorious movement. There’s a good case, surely, for playing this movement as a stand-alone piece in a concert.

Fascinating things start to happen when three different soloists interact with each other and the orchestra – maybe Mahlerman would like to do a Sunday Afternoon on concertos with multiple soloists sometime?