Myaskovsky - Cello Sonata N1 D-dur op.12

Myaskovsky- Cello sonata N1. You can download the PDF sheet music Myaskovsky- Cello sonata N1 on this page.

The Sonata in D major, Op. 12 has only two movements, neither of them fast. It «forms a sort of long meditation that, from the outset, lets the cello speak in the opening Adagio. The dialogue that sets in with the piano establishes a close relation to an instrumental Lied, with a quasi-monodic melodic-line in the cello, while the piano—as in Rachmaninov—is given the essential, beginning with two thematic ideas. Their development, andante, occurs with a series of chords that is particularly complex on the harmonic-level, modulating into keys quite remote from the original D major. The same procedure continues as of the opening chords of the Allegro passionato that begins in D minor, makes the two identifiable themes denser in the course of their passage to F major and by frequent chromatic incises. Their development gives rise to particularly elaborate contrapuntal work and leads to a concluding adagio, oscillating between minor and major, the latter mode imposing itself in a serious, majestic coda. Miaskovsky revised his score during the summer of 1945, and the critical edition, which came out in Moscow in 1956, is the one played today.

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Cello part: 9 pages. 3985 K

Piano part: 32 pages. 33805 K

Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 – 1950) was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony". Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times, more than any other composer.

Russian composer Nikolai Yakovlevich Miaskovsky remains unjustly neglected from the viewpoint of his importance, both historic and aesthetic. He represents the obligatory transition point between the generation of 'learned' composers (such as Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky and Taneyev)—as opposed to the amateurs' of the Group of Five! —and the younger generation that stayed in Russia, such as Shostakovich, Shebalin, Vainberg... and that of the cosmopolitans' (Prokofiev and Stravinsky). This tireless worker left no less than 27 symphonies (1908-1950); concertos, including the one for cello dedicated to Sviatoslav Knussevitzky, who premiered it on 17,h March 1945, the first Western performance being given in London by the young Rostropovich; 13 string quartets (1909-1948); a violin sonata dedicated to D. Tziganov, the 'primarius' of the Beethoven Quartet; and finally, the two Sonatas for cello and piano as well as nine piano sonatas.