´óÏó´«Ã½

Donald Macleod speaks to Russian music expert Marina Frolova-Walker about two giants of the Soviet symphony: Nikolai Myaskovsky and Gavriil Popov.

As part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3's "Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture" season, Composer of the Week unravels the lives and masterpieces of the musicians that shaped musical life from the USSR's inception in 1917 through to its dissolution in 1991. In this first week, Donald Macleod explores a host of composers - from familiar names like Shostakovich and Prokofiev to lesser-known, though no less brilliant, figures like Gavriil Popov and Alexander Mosolov - whose music documents the turbulent and fascinating story of Russia up to Stalin's death in 1953.

Donald is joined by the Russian music expert Marina Frolova-Walker as they explore the tensions, censorship and cultural terror of the 1920s and 30s, followed by the trauma of the Second World War and finally the infamous Zhdanov affair of the late 1940s, which censured some of the USSR's foremost composers.

Today Donald and Marina unravel the legacy of two very different symphonists. First, Nikolai Myaskovsky, once described by Shostakovich as "the Russian Vaughan Williams", whose prodigious output of symphonies (27 in all) blend dark Romanticism with shards of modernism. Then Gavriil Popov, author of only one symphony of real note (he completed six), yet whose first essay in the genre is amongst the most arresting, brilliant and chaotic musical creations of all Russian 20th-century music.

Myaskovsky
Prelude (Madrigal, Op 7)
Hibla Gerzmava, soprano
Ekaterin Ganilena, piano

Myaskovsky
Symphony No 10
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia
Evgeny Svetlanov

Myaskovsky
String Quartet No 1 in A minor, Op 33 No 1 (3rd mvt)
Renoir Quartet

Popov
Symphony No 1 (1st mvt)
Moscow State Symphony Orchestra
Gennady Provatorov, conductor.