With 27 symphonies to his name, Nikolai Myaskovsky is known as the ‘father of the Soviet symphony’, his legacy placing him in the same line as other great Russian symphonists such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Myaskovsky’s richly Romantic Symphony no.1 won him the Glazunov scholarship, and as a graduation work reveals the influence of Tchaikovsky and Scriabin in its expressive, dramatic impact. The more experimental but also deeply inward-looking and disconsolate Symphony no.13 is regarded as one of Myaskovsky’s most individual statements.

Myaskovsky’s works are not frequently performed, but our own recordings of the symphonies on the Marco Polo label went some way towards raising his profile in the West, and our release on the Naxos label of his 24th and 25th Symphonies (8555376) was welcomed by MusicWeb International: ‘The recent mini proliferation of Myaskovsky on disc will gladden many a heart and here’s another reason to be content. No complaints at all about the disc? None.’