Vasily Petrenko is recording Myaskovsky

Vasily Petrenko, not to be confused with Kirill Petrenko (who is currently recovering from a broken toe)  has taken on the praiseworthy task of trying to ensure that Nikolai Myaskovsky is not forgotten. Myaskovsky wrote 27 symphonies and apparently was considered a major composer in his day but doesn't get a lot of attention now.

Vasily Petrenko has recorded two albums with the Oslo Philharmonic which pair a Prokofiev symphony with a Myaskovsky symphony. A 2020 album has Prokofiev's fifth symphony with Myaskovsky's 21st. A 2021 recording has Prokofiev's sixth with Myaskovsky's 27th. Both albums are available on Freegal Music, the public library streaming service in the U.S. 

This is not the Myaskovsky of his early days, when he was a leader of the Association for Contemporary Music, and a leader in the kind of "Russian Futurist" music this blog is concerned with, but I'm pleased to see Myaskovsky get some attention. I don't know whether the series will continue, but I'd like to hear what Petrenko does with Prokofiev's third symphony and whatever Myaskovsky he'd choose to pair it with.

Steffen Schleiermacher's piano recitals

Steffen Schleiermacher (publicity photo from official website)

Steffen Schleiermacher, a German pianist, composer and conductor, has contributed to the revival of Russian Futurist music with three albums. 

He has done two piano recitals albums of Russian Futurist piano music, Soviet Avant-Garde and Soviet Avant-Garde 2.   The composers covered on these two recordings are Alexander Mosolov, Nikolai Roslavetz,  Arthur Lourié, Sergei Protopopov and Leonid Polovinkin. 

On those albums, he seemed to me to have a particular affinity for Mosolov, and in fact he is the featured pianist on a Mosolov collection with various artists issued by Capriccio which includes Mosolov's first piano concerto. 

I should also point out that Herr Schleiermacher is a very prolific and hard working musician who has recorded a great deal of contemporary classical music by composers from all over the world, including the complete piano music of John Cage and the works of a very wide range of other composers, everyone from Morton Feldman to Stefan Wolpe, even avant-garde music from Indonesia! Explore his work at the official website.  It has hard to think of another musician who has made a greater effort to connect listeners to modern classical music. 

As far as I can tell, he isn't on social media, but he deserves to be better known.