Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
00:06 I. Lento
14:26 II. Presto
19:52 III. Andante, maestoso e mesto
33:26 IV. Allegro risoluto
USSR State Radio Symphony, cond. Gennady Provatorov
Original audio from @JCHBONNET : youtube.com/watch?v=pCs2UFlRyRc
Evgeny Golubev (Евгений Голубев, 1910-1988) was born and passed away in Moscow. Like Vissarion Shebalin, whose fifth symphony I just uploaded, Golubev was a student of Nikolai Myaskovsky and also a notable teacher at the Moscow Conservatory; his most famous student was Alfred Schnittke, whom he taught from 1953 to 1958. His own works included three piano concerti (the third dedicated to Tatiana Nikolayeva), 24 string quartets, concerti for violin, viola, and cello, ten piano sonatas, sonatas for violin, cello, and trumpet, and quintets including piano and harp - the latter being one his few works to receive a notable number of performances today.
Golubev's own style was quite far from Schnittke's and much more conservative, although he encouraged his students to seek new paths. Works such as his piano concerti are so rooted in Romantic tradition they might almost be described as anachronistic. His fifth symphony of 1960, however, synthesizes the past and the present in a manner both singular and convincing. While the debt the symphony owes to Romanticism in both fundamental harmonic language and orchestration is undeniable, this is allied to extended, sometimes astringent harmonies typical of many mid-20th-century works, bold orchestrational choices with often exposed lines from instruments playing in very high or very low registers, and a certain characteristically martial Soviet idiom.
Unlike many famous Romantic works, it is not memorable melodies that really make this symphony compelling, but rather the range of timbres and moods that Golubev draws from the orchestra; a strong clarity of form, reminiscent of his teacher Myaskovsky, ties them all together.
00:06 I. Lento
14:26 II. Presto
19:52 III. Andante, maestoso e mesto
33:26 IV. Allegro risoluto
USSR State Radio Symphony, cond. Gennady Provatorov
Original audio from @JCHBONNET : youtube.com/watch?v=pCs2UFlRyRc
Evgeny Golubev (Евгений Голубев, 1910-1988) was born and passed away in Moscow. Like Vissarion Shebalin, whose fifth symphony I just uploaded, Golubev was a student of Nikolai Myaskovsky and also a notable teacher at the Moscow Conservatory; his most famous student was Alfred Schnittke, whom he taught from 1953 to 1958. His own works included three piano concerti (the third dedicated to Tatiana Nikolayeva), 24 string quartets, concerti for violin, viola, and cello, ten piano sonatas, sonatas for violin, cello, and trumpet, and quintets including piano and harp - the latter being one his few works to receive a notable number of performances today.
Golubev's own style was quite far from Schnittke's and much more conservative, although he encouraged his students to seek new paths. Works such as his piano concerti are so rooted in Romantic tradition they might almost be described as anachronistic. His fifth symphony of 1960, however, synthesizes the past and the present in a manner both singular and convincing. While the debt the symphony owes to Romanticism in both fundamental harmonic language and orchestration is undeniable, this is allied to extended, sometimes astringent harmonies typical of many mid-20th-century works, bold orchestrational choices with often exposed lines from instruments playing in very high or very low registers, and a certain characteristically martial Soviet idiom.
Unlike many famous Romantic works, it is not memorable melodies that really make this symphony compelling, but rather the range of timbres and moods that Golubev draws from the orchestra; a strong clarity of form, reminiscent of his teacher Myaskovsky, ties them all together.
