BaL 19.04.14 - Nielsen: Symphony no. 2

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am

Building a Library
David Fanning with a personal recommendation from recordings of Nielsen's 2nd Symphony "The Four Temperaments."

Available versions:-

New York PO, Leonard Bernstein
Danish RSO, Herbert Blomstedt
San Francisco SO, Herbert Blomstedt
Gothenburg SO, Myung-Whun Chung
LSO Sir Colin Davis
New York PO, Alan Gilbert
Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Grøndahl
Goteborgs SO, Neeme Jarvi (download)
Danish Radio SO, Thomas Jensen
Janacek PO, Theodore Kuchar
Ireland National SO, Adrian Leaper (download)
Royal Stockholm PO, Tor Mann
Royal Stockholm PO, Gennay Rozhdesvensky
Finnish RSO, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
LSO Ole Schmidt
Danish National SO, Michael Schonwandt
Danish National SO, Michael Schonwandt (DVD)
Danish RSO, Leopold Stokowski (DVD)
BBC Scottish SO, Osmo Vanska

[HighlandDougie]

The New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert version on a Da Capo SACD is also available. Boarders may recall that it was the source of some heated debate when released (not least about the recording) as a result of which one (erstwhile) boarder from Sweden flounced off our collective radar. There is also a live Launy Grøndahl/Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra version which forms part of a Danacord 3 CD set (Volume 1 of the Historic Carl Nielsen Collection) which I suspect may no longer be officially available, although used copies are certainly to be found quite easily.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert version on a Da Capo SACD is also available.

It doesn't seem to be easily located in the UK, but I'll add it to the list.

There is also a live Launy Grøndahl/Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra version which forms part of a Danacord 3 CD set (Volume 1 of the Historic Carl Nielsen Collection) which I suspect may no longer be officially available, although used copies are certainly to be found quite easily.

I'll check

[PJPJ]

Sadly, Berglund's RCA cycle seems not to be available. I think he has a lot to say due to his adhering to and understanding the composer's tempo markings and their effects on one another. No doubt it will reappear at some stage.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, it's available. I've added that too.

But in the process, I've managed to delete part of your message. Duty calls; I must reinstate it. Sorry about this.
Update - Not guilty after all. It was there all the time, but invisible for a time. I clicked on "Save" and there it was. Odd really.

[verismissimo]

Haven't listened to it in years. NYPO/Bernstein is all that I've ever had. To be re-spun.

[kea]

Blomstedt/SFSO has served me quite well for all six for the better part of a decade. Though I must admit I usually find myself losing interest during the Andante, which I suspect to be more Nielsen's fault than Herbert's. I believe its melodrama is intended as parodic though (the composer likened it to a morose teenager, and the image that always comes to mind for me is that of the 1990s "emo" subculture)

[Barbirollians]

sFSO/Blomstedt remains a proper library choice IMO .

[jayne lee wilson]

The New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert version on a Da Capo SACD is also available. Boarders may recall that it was the source of some heated debate when released (not least about the recording) as a result of which one (erstwhile) boarder from Sweden flounced off our collective radar. There is also a live Launy Grøndahl/Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra version which forms part of a Danacord 3 CD set (Volume 1 of the Historic Carl Nielsen Collection) which I suspect may no longer be officially available, although used copies are certainly to be found quite easily.

Oh yes HD - I remember that spicy head-to-head with Thomas Roth... was a bit sorry when it was over really. Dullness is the greater crime! Etc...

Must say I've never thought of the Malincolico as any kind of a parody! It always strikes me as both noble and beautiful, with a most touchingly delicate coda. Perhaps one shouldn't take composers' comments too seriously (where, Kea, does he mention the brooding teenager?)... we remember Brahms' comments about his 2nd, or Mozart calling k563 a "divertimento"; and as for Max Davies on his 1st...! I do prefer conductors to move the malincolico on a bit - Gould's 10'01 is ideal - flows along and keeps the musical ingenuities in view.

I'm very fond of No.2, but feel a little too familiar with the piece to listen extensively just now; in the past I've favoured Chung, Schonwandt, Kuchar and Ole Schmidt, with a somewhat sui generis special mention for Morton Gould's Chicago Symphony rocket. Blomstedt/SFSO is as ever a safe bet - but again, once you know it...

Never did change my mind about the Gilbert though - deleted it from the drive later, and the same fate befell Colin Davis' dull LSO Live account, whose 24/96 recording seemed to do it no favours...

[Alison]

David Fanning wasn't terribly complimentary about the Gilbert in his Gramophone review. Too much luxuriating with sugary treats !

[kea]

Must say I've never thought of the Malincolico as any kind of a parody! It always strikes me as both noble and beautiful, with a most touchingly delicate coda. Perhaps one shouldn't take composers' comments too seriously (where, Kea, does he mention the brooding teenager?)...

Believe it was Carl Nielsen, Symphonist that contained the reference... there were similar parodic intentions with the other three movements, I think. However, Wiki sez he was inspired by a (parodic?) painting but the composition eventually took on much more serious dimensions.

...my friends and I were heartily amused by the naivety of the pictures, their exaggerated expression and their comic earnestness. But how strangely things can sometimes turn out! I, who had laughed aloud and mockingly at these pictures, returned constantly to them in my thoughts, and one fine day I realized that these shoddy pictures still contained a kind of core or idea and – just think! – even a musical undercurrent! Some time later, then, I began to work out the first movement of a symphony, but I had to be careful that it did not fence in the empty air, and I hoped of course that my listeners would not laugh so that the irony of fate would smite my soul.
- programme note for a 1931 concert

[jayne lee wilson]

The Robert Simpson study? I can't find the morose teenager in that book just now, but never mind: "Never trust the artist, trust the tale" "The proper function of the critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it..." "An artist usually intellectualises on top, and his dark under-consciousness goes on contradicting him beneath"...(D.H.Lawrence)

Just listen to it, really.

[kea]

Fair enough. I'll try some different recordings and see if my opinion changes.

[jayne lee wilson]

Fair enough. I'll try some different recordings and see if my opinion changes.

Go for Gold! Sorry, I mean Gould!
Really clears the cobwebs, that one...

[kea]

Side note: Some more wise words from Carl on this particular movement, from the 1931 programme note - I can't find the morose teenager reference either, perhaps I'm just going insane -

The third movement attempts to express the basic character of a grave, melancholy person, but here as always in the world of music, a title or a programme is only a hint. What the composer wants is less significant than what the music, on its own terms, from its inmost being, demands and requires.

Can't find Gould to sample at the moment - perhaps it's on Spotify, which I don't feel like opening up right now - but based on the 9'54" andante of Colin Davis's not-so-well-regarded LSO account I think a ~10 minute account would be much more to my taste.

Schonwandt on Naxos also seems very promising; slowish, but a good deal less exaggerated than some I've heard. The oboe melody is quite touching in this context.