Nikolai Myaskovsky composed his Symphony No. 22 in

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

in 1941. Its official name is ''Symphonic Ballad'' (or Ballade), and it lasts about 35–40 minutes in performance. The

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

is in one

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

in three sections: #Lento. Allegro non troppo in B minor #Andante con duolo in

#Allegro energico, ma non troppo vivo in B minor The first section begins with a slow introduction which acts as a section-connecting and recurring motive, in B minor but with a tendency to slip to a

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

chord. When this introductory material is last heard, near the end of the symphony, the top G rises to a G several times. The symphony was premiered in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

under Abram Stasevich on 12 January 1942. It was possibly among the first symphonic responses to The Great Patriotic War (

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

), predating

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

Leningrad Symphony Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, nicknamed the ''Leningrad'', was begun in Leningrad, completed in the city of Samara (then known as Kuybyshev) in December 1941, and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. At first dedica ...

Recordings

* Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, recorded May 2, 1970, for Melodiya, reissued on Olympia, Alto and Warner Classics *

Aleksandr Titov Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, St Petersburg State Academic SO, on Northern Flowers NF/PMA 9966, recorded June 24, 2008

References

22 1941 compositions 1941 in the Soviet Union Compositions in B minor {{symphony-stub