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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Getting Started with Myaskovsky
Post Subject: ExpressionismPosted by Amphissa on: 12/12/2006
Myaskovsky always said that his music was grounded in the tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and of course, Tchaikovsky, so that is where the beauty and lyrical portions of his music derived from. But he was part of the avant-garde movement in the early 1900s of Russia. Wagner was very influential, and the spiritualism of Scriabin. Myaskovsky was familiar with Schoenberg's music too, and also Sibelius, Bartok, Zemlimsky and Berg. But of course, he just selected a few elements of more modern tonalities to build on in his own music -- those complex harmonies that made for the rich sound structures, and the uncertainty of key that finds its way into some movements and tone poems. He was never as abrasive as other composers of that era, he never allowed himself to be locked into a "system" or "method" of composing. And he had no discomfort blending the lyricism of the late romantics within his works.
I do not know how well he knew the music of Mahler. Certainly they have some ideas in common, but Myaskovsky was never as ostentatious as Mahler. Of course, he was a much more versatile composer than Mahler. Mahler had a few ideas (both musically and programmatically), which he reworked over and over again in his symphonies. Myaskovsky wrote chamber music, concertos, symphonies, symphonic poems, with great variety of concept and rich in ideas.
Was Myaskovsky an expressionist? That may be a good description. Certainly he was of the same era and kinship with the great Russian expressionistic painter Kandinsky, and drew upon many of the more innovative writers of the era as inspiration. And like many Russians, he loved the haunting writings of Edgar Allan Poe, whose works were extraordinarily popular in Russian translation during the early 1900s.Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site