Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky and Shostakovich are among the big names in the history of Russian music, whereas Nikolai Miaskowski and Nikolai Medtner are hardly known today. The former appears now and again in music literature as a friend of Prokofiev's, alongside whom he studied under Rimsky-Korsakov. Miaskowski later became a sought-after teacher himself, counting major composers such as Khachaturian and Kabalewski among his pupils, and wrote no fewer than 27 symphonies. This NDR chamber music recital features Miaskowski’s Cello Sonata No. 2 as well as the Piano Quintet by the »Russian Brahms« Nikolai Medtner, who is best known for his virtuoso piano works. The concert opens with the Piano Quartet by Russian-German composer Alfred Schnittke, once a professor at Hamburg’s Musikhochschule, who based the work on a fragment from the pen of Gustav Mahler. read less