Myaskovsky: Cello Sonatas

Album review

In 1911, the year Myaskovsky wrote his Sonata Op. 12, the composer (by then aged 31) finally managed to finish his studies at the Conservatoire in St Petersburg, after an uphill struggle with his father that had lasted eight years: the old man, a military engineer convinced that his son should follow in his goosesteps, had enrolled him in Military Engineering. Following his discharge in 1907, he began attending classes at the Conservatoire under Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov and Glazunov. Myaskovsky’s artistic personality absorbed the old guard’s musical establishment without too much effort, but also tended towards areas that were beyond the reach of the great Russian tradition. He adored Richard Strauss (whom Rimsky-Korsakov absolutely loathed), and later was to find great affinity with Stravinsky and Prokofiev, the latter becoming one of his closest friends. It was in this context that the first Cello Sonata Op. 12 came into being. Up to then he had only composed a few piano sonatas, some overtures and just two of his 27 symphonies. Though this is an early work, it reveals at various points a remarkable degree of maturity, as well as a considerable understanding of the essence of Russian folklore. His second sonata is entirely different in mood. It was finished in 1949, when Myaskovsky was 69 and in the throes of the health problems that were to send him to his grave the following year. The war that had just ended had taken its toll on the composer, especially the Stalinist repression that he experienced first hand - not as dramatically as some fellow artists, but enough to ensure that his name was removed from all concert programs throughout the Soviet Union. Though his friend Prokofiev did his best to introduce his works to European audiences, all Myaskovsky could do was spend the last two years of his life composing in solitude at home. The fame of the Sonata owes much to the fact that Rostropovitch, to whom it was dedicated, often played it and also recorded it. Yet the work also acquired a momentum of its own because it embodies the artistic transition between the old Soviet school and avant-garde composers. One of Myaskovsky’s last works, the Op. 81 clearly reveals the composer’s greatest virtue: his remarkable skill in reconciling two different worlds and epochs with harmony and balance. In this he had few peers, bringing together with apparent simplicity the solid Russian musical background of his own masters and the innovative compositional solutions of a new musical world. A surprisingly prolific composer, Myaskovsky handled the transition with admirable sensitivity. Italian cellist Luca Magariello studied with, among others, Philippe Muller. He was a finalist at the 5th Antonio Janigro International Competition in Zagreb, and went on to win the Khachaturian International Cello Competition in Yerevan, a prestigious achievement that launched him in his international career as a soloist. Both in duo and other ensembles, Magariello has performed at venues such as the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Teatro Regio in Turin and Teatro Verdi in Trieste. He has recorded the complete Haydn Cello Concertos, the Saint-Säens Piano Quartets, and Hummel’s Complete Piano Trios. In 2015 he was appointed to the post of principal cello in the Orchestra of la Fenice in Venice. © SM/Qobuz