In recent years Miaskovsky has suffered something of a decline in the Soviet Union. Textbooks still honour him as an important influence on the development of Soviet music, a great teacher and so on, but performances and recordings of his music have become increasingly rare. Whether this new CD issue (apparently the first of a series) is a sing of re-awakened interest—a kind of Russian counterpart to the Bax phenomenon in England—isn't easy to tell, but obviously the spirit of the age is favourable to the rediscovery of very late romantic orchestral composers, as is demonstrated by the case of Bax, or Respighi, or even Eduard Tubin.
How could one describe Miaskovsky's music? A difficult question, especially since, as several writers have observed, there's something oddly anonymous about even his strongest works—and not just on a personal level. Quite apart from the absence of readily identifiable stylistic traits, the music offers few clues as to national identity. Even when, as in the Serenade, Miaskovsky uses folk-inspired material, there's nothing particularly Slavic about the end result. This, and the absence of clear fingerprints suggest a tendency to self-effacement—not necessarily a deplorable attitude by any means, but in music that relies so heavily on traditionalist-romantic expressive devices one expects at some stage to be able to identify a personality. Somehow, it's not forthcoming.
Performances all sound thoroughly committed, and the playing of the Ministry of Defence orchestra (winds and percussion only) is particularly accomplished. Even so, the Serenade and Sinfonietta really do outstay their welcome, despite many beautiful and inventive moments, and although the Nineteenth Symphony is mercifully more compact, its somewhat purposeless heartiness does try one's patience. Recordings are a little on the bright side, but the sound is clear, despite a highly reverberant background in the symphony. One rough-edged edit mars the climax of the Serenade's slow movements but apart from that it is quite an impressive issue from a technical point of view. One can only hope that future Miaskovsky releases will include finer—dare I say more representative—music.'