Myaskovsky
Six Poems of Alexander Blok Op. 20 (1920)
At the Decline of Day: Three Sketches to Words by Fyodor Tyutchev Op.21 (1922)
Three Sketches Op.45 (1938)
From the Lyric Poetry of Stepan Shchipachyov Op. 52 (1940) Songs of Many Years Op.87 (1901-1936, rev. 1950) – nos.1, 6, 7 & 10
Two Songs of Polar Explorers (1939)

Ilya Kuzmin (baritone, Op.20, Op.45), Dzambolat Dulaev (baritone, all other songs), Olga Solovieva (piano)

Toccata Classics TOCC0667 [62’44”] Russian (Cyrillic) texts and English translations included
Producer and Engineer Ilya Dontsov

Recorded 2018-2022

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Toccata Classics continues its estimable coverage of the songs by Nikolay Myaskovsky with a second volume devoted to those for baritone which, in term of its performances, sound and annotations, is no less successful as a demonstration of the composer’s prowess in this genre.

What’s the music like?

Myaskovsky composed some 120 songs, with roughly half written early in his career before the symphony was central to his thinking. The first two collections here emerged between his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, a traumatic time personally and culturally with civil war having engulfed the Soviet Union. Hence that darkly fatalistic aura which pervades the Six Poems of Alexander Blok, its texts drawn from this poet’s early maturity at the tune of the 20th century and framed by two of Myaskovsky’s finest songs: the bittersweet A full moon has risen over the meadow and the speculative In the silent night. Written soon afterwards, At the Decline of Day features three ‘sketches’ after Fyodor Tyutchev whose brevity only accentuates their expressive acuity – notably the central setting ‘Your friendly voice prompts no living spark’.

Over a decade on and Three Sketches finds Myaskovsky tackling poetry with whose Socialist Realism he could have had little empathy, though his setting of Lev Kvitko’s A Conversation evinces a wistful poise hardly warranted by the text. This quality is more gainfully employed in From the Lyric Poetry of Stepan Shchipachyov, not least for the way the composer invests often wantonly propagandist texts with that sense of imaginative wonder that may have been their desired intention all along – as is evident from such as Mount Elbrus and the Aeroplane. Although published as Myaskovsky’s last opus, Songs of Many Years collates 15 songs which had been written often many years before. Of the four heard here, Thus yearns the soul finds the 20-year-old setting Aleksey Koľtsov’s text with due awareness of its aspirational ardency, while the baleful Sonnet of Michelangelo makes pertinent comparison with Shostakovich’s version 65 years on. The first two from Four Songs of Polar Explorers offer a distinctive take on the ‘mass song’, of which the rousing Song of the Polar Sailors audibly fulfils its remit.

Does it all work?

Yes, providing one accepts that Myaskovsky was not a composer of songs given to extremes of emotion or flights of fancy in those texts he chose to set. Such a tendency to introspection could easily have been over-emphasized through allotting this selection solely to the baritone register, and it is a tribute to Ilya Kuzmin and Dzambolat Dulaev that any risk of expressive uniformity is wholly avoided – the former as unforced in his eloquence as the latter renders his often more impersonal settings with a light and flexible touch. Both singers here benefit from Olga Solovieva’s perceptive accompaniment, confirming her once again as a pianist of no little finesse. The texts and translations for all of these 28 songs have been included, and though some may regret the absence of transliterations, they can mostly be accessed online.

Is it recommended?

Very much so, and not least as Patrick Zuk’s booklet note sets the scene so thoroughly yet evocatively. Warmly recommended and, with just over a third of Myaskovsky’s songs now recorded, this is hopefully a series that Toccata will be able to see through to its completion.

Listen & Buy

For purchase options, you can visit the Toccata Classics website. For information on the performers, click on the names to read more about Ilya Kuzmin, Dzambolat Dulaev and Olga Solovieva – and composer Nikolay Myaskovsky

Published post no.2,493 – Thursday 3 April 2025