I am enjoying the COTW. I never heard Roslavets while in Russia. Myaskovsky is well known and is a good composer.
I liked his viola sonata. Bashmet has good sound on viola and was expressive in the piece. Quartet is good too.
I heard rumor about Bashmet that he is playing now with his girl friend (who is I am told beautiful and excellent pianist). Life of musicians so precorious.

Roslavets did indeed use a type of twelve-tone system; he and Josef Matthias Hauer were the first to do so (before Schoenberg).

Don't hesitate, BobbyZ. Both pieces on that Roslavets CD are quite fascinating, and I found the slow movement of the Chamber Symphony in particular very striking and memorable. The only Myaskovsky I know is the Sixth Symphony, which I found somewhat less interesting, though still impressive in a dark and brooding kind of way (nothing like as innovative in either material or orchestration as Roslavets). I have the idea from somewhere that Myaskovsky's later works are compromised by his readiness to do what the Party officials wanted him to do, but I haven't heard them, and of course exactly the same thing used to be said about Shostakovich in the West, so who knows. Shame I missed this CotW, having been on the road all week.

Help! I did not catch the introduction to Myaskovsky's 13th on CotW. Was Walton's Presto, con malizia (First Symphony) mentioned. How did Walton get to hear, or see the score of, the Myaskovsky? Did he openly acknowledge the debt?

I was after a quick response. I have now copied this evening's mp2 onto this laptop and checked out the introduction. No mention of a link to the scherzo of the Walton, first performed a couple of years after Myaskovsky completed his 13th. To me the influence (to put it mildly) is glaring. Any comments?

t-p, do you know the scherzo of Walton's First Symphony (Presto, con malizia)? If not, and you heard the Myaskovsky 13th, do try and get to listen to the Walton. I was a couple of rooms away when I heard the strains of the 13th echoing through. At first I thought I was hearing a plunderphonics presentation of the Walton. The similarities are stunning, (well they are to my ears, anyway).

    ///////<<<<<<< I have stopped listening to Radio 3 almost completely, but i am surprised that COTW has included Myaskovsky. For a long time I was very frustrated at how few of his works I knew or could get to hear, and even suggested to Rob Cowan that he feature Myaskovsky on his now defunct CD Masters series, which he sort of turned down. Anyhow, I had by a strange stroke of fortune the chance to buy one of two complete CD sets of Myaskovsky's symphonic works (16 CDs) that became available in a London record shop, and so now I can listen to all 27 symphonies, plus the other oddments (overtures, three Sinfoniettas, tone poems etc.) I have heard the 13th Symphony, but must say that nothing about it struck me as reminiscent of Walton's Presto con Malizia, which I know well. However, I will return to the 13th and listen with new ears. I do find it hard to imagine that Walton could have heard the Myaskovsky - given how rare are performances even on radio nowadays, surely back in Walton's youth they would have been even rarer? It could just be a coincidence. I remember someone saying to me in my student days that he thought Holst's "Mars" was directly influenced by the Scherzo of Bruckner's 9th Symphony. To my mind, nothing could be less likely. Both Holst and Bruckner are great composers, but are also worlds apart (forgive the unintended planetary pun). The rhythm there is surely pure coincidence? How would Holst ever have been able to hear a Bruckner symphony then, or even see a score?