Symphony No. 20 (Myaskovsky)


Nikolai Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 20 in E major, his Op. 50, was written in 1940. It is dedicated to Yuri Shaporin. The symphony was premiered on 28 November 1940 by Nikolai Golovanov conducting the Large All-Union Radio SO. It has three movements:
  1. Allegro con spirito
  2. Adagio, in C major
  3. Allegro inquieto, in E minor
The first movement is in sonata form. The Adagio is on two themes, in C and in A, which appear contrapuntally at the reappearance of the first; it has the form A-B -A'-B'-coda. The finale is a rondo whose E major concluding pages incorporate a climactic reappearance by the main theme of the Adagio, leading Richard Taruskin to remark of this symphony that it is Myaskovsky's "Land of Hope and Glory".

Recordings