19.09.2011 - Carl Nielsen

[jayne lee wilson]

Waldhorn, Chris, everyone, PLEASE buy the Brilliant Kuchar Nielsen cycle, please...

...these are all great Nielsen interpreters of the past, and in the rich recorded catalogues of the present; Kuchar has shown himself to be a great Nielsen conductor of the present; who knows what he may achieve for the composer. And he's still only 51!

My first Nielsen purchase was the Berglund/Bournemouth SO LP of no.5; Kuchar's cycle has much of the ripely recorded, freshly discovered qualities inherent in that reading; the joy, wonder and excitement are all there, robust and abundant!

[Chris Newman]

Waldhorn, Chris, everyone, PLEASE buy the Brilliant Kuchar Nielsen cycle, please...

...these are all great Nielsen interpreters of the past, and in the rich recorded catalogues of the present; Kuchar has shown himself to be a great Nielsen conductor of the present; who knows what he may achieve for the composer. And he's still only 51!

My first Nielsen purchase was the Berglund/Bournemouth SO LP of no.5; Kuchar's cycle has much of the ripely recorded, freshly discovered qualities inherent in that reading; the joy, wonder and excitement are all there, robust and abundant!

Jayne,
Thanks for the tip-off. Having six complete sets of the symphonies and a multitude of individual works I wondered whether I really should, especially having just gone for Alex Gibson's 4 and 5. As always I looked for a few reviews as Kuchar (Brilliant CDs) is too recent for the Penguin and Gramophone guides. I started with the Reno Chamber Orchestra (US) repeated Jack Lawson's review (see below) praising "Ted Kuchar" and his Nielsen set. I was cautious at first as Ted Kuchar is their MD.

http://www.musicweb-international.co...char_92885.htm (Jack Lawson, who often talks good sense)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...lbum_id=135933 (David Hurwitz...USUALLY I want to throw him in the bin)

http://www.musicweb-international.co...char_92885.htm (Blair Sanderson, I don't know him, but Musicweb have mostly sensible guys)

http://www.amazon.com/Nielsen-Sympho.../dp/B000EDWM2M (Amazon customers)


Well, Jayne, you have convinced me. And at such a bargain price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...&condition=new (£6.81 plus £1.26 pp)

Thanks
Chris.

[jayne lee wilson]

I think you missed my msg 22 where I went into more detail... you won't regret the Kuchar purchase.

Strange thing with Hurwitz... often infuriating, but on occasions when I've got or bought the sets he's reviewed I find him more-or-less on target... partly thanks to him I got the still-underrated Bryden Thomson Martinu, & Barenboim's Chicago SO Bruckner 4 (where for once I disagree with Deryck Cooke - off-topic, sorry.)

Jayne,
Thanks for the tip-off. Having six complete sets of the symphonies and a multitude of individual works I wondered whether I really should, especially having just gone for Alex Gibson's 4 and 5. As always I looked for a few reviews as Kuchar (Brilliant CDs) is too recent for the Penguin and Gramophone guides. I started with the Reno Chamber Orchestra (US) repeated Jack Lawson's review (see below) praising "Ted Kuchar" and his Nielsen set. I was cautious at first as Ted Kuchar is their MD.

http://www.musicweb-international.co...char_92885.htm (Jack Lawson, who often talks good sense)

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...lbum_id=135933 (David Hurwitz...USUALLY I want to throw him in the bin)

http://www.musicweb-international.co...char_92885.htm (Blair Sanderson, I don't know him, but Musicweb have mostly sensible guys)

http://www.amazon.com/Nielsen-Sympho.../dp/B000EDWM2M (Amazon customers)


Well, Jayne, you have convinced me. And at such a bargain price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...&condition=new (£6.81 plus £1.26 pp)

Thanks
Chris.

[Chris Newman]

Yes, I missed your references to the reviews by Lawson and (grrr!) Hurwitz.

I love your quote from the BIS Box Set:

The BIS box includes a gorgeous disc of the 3 concertos, all beautifully done, you may be able to find it separately. When the BIS cycle first appeared some of the CDs carried a warning about uncompressed dynamic range!
.

Oh, that we could still say that about Radio 3.

[BBMmk2]

I have the Blomstedt set on Decca. I am hoping for others, I am not a great fan of Brilliant Classics. I have the Lutoslawski set, and the only decent symphony is the 3rd. Can I be convinced that the BC set of Nielsen symphonies would be worth acquiring?

The Bis set looks tempting!!

[Chris Newman]

I would not judge a record label by one set, BBM. Brilliant have some very famous recordings: the celebrated Boris Christoff/Dobrowen Boris Godunov for a tenner (and under the new copyright law still legal), that and the Richard Strauss operas are utter bargains if they were three times the price. A beginner can get the complete orchestral works of Smetana for £10. There are some smashing old Dorati discs. The reviews for the Kuchar Nielsen set put it up with Chung and Blomstedt (I have both his sets) so I thought I would give it a whirl (Amazon dealers offer it at £6.81 the lot). If you don't like it give it to a friend instead of 2 pints of lager and hopefully make a convert. Half the secret with the older recordings is to look up several original reviews (CD versions) which is easy on line.

I also have brought some terrific Purcell operas on Brilliant. Oh!!! and the Stamitz Quartet's complete Dvorak Quartets: wonderful.

[Tony Halstead]

I really and truly hope that the current Blomstedt/ Nielsen sets 'on offer' include the concertos..? IMHO the originally issued Clarinet and ( especially) Flute concerto have never been bettered. I say this with all due respect for the somewhat legendary recordings by Jesperson ( Flute, the dedicatee, quite sharp most of the time ) and more recently ( nearly 50 years ago) Stanley Drucker/ NYPO/ Bernstein in the clarinet Concerto.
IMHO the performance of the flute concerto by Frantz Lemmser ( playing a wooden flute) is simply SUBLIME and ought to be the 'most urgently recommended version' were there ever to be a BAL of this lovely work.

[Chris Newman]

Hi Waldhorn,
I have that beautiful Lemmser/Blomstedt flute concerto with Kubelik's Fifth Symphony and the other concerti. I think the current issue does not include the symphony. I love wooden flutes. The BBCSO has a good player who appears at the end of the Proms season. Gareth Morris was very distinctive in Klemperer's Philharmonia though I think he had a "half and half" instrument with a metal head joint and wooden body joint (it might just be my memory). That Lemmser is very special. I bought it seperately because it did not come with Blomstedt's Danish set when I tried to buy it. They keep changing the packaging.
bws
Chris.

[jayne lee wilson]

I know, I know, it does look an unlikely source, but it happens... from the (sparse) documentation though, it appears that the Kuchar was an original recording for Brilliant, not reissues as is usually their case. Kuchar himself is a lively character, he's done fine things for Naxos including a wonderful disc of the Piston Violin Concertos and a spectacular, and very idiomatic, Mussorgsky Pictures.

I'm breathless with persuasion, so... buy it on sale-or-return from Amazon and then you'll know!

As I said earlier (msg 22) the BIS box is excellent - all the Chung performances, and the concertos, outstanding, but you do notice the lower emotional temperature when Jarvi takes over from Chung in 4& 6; they are very literal. And 4 especially suffers from hurried phrasing in the outer movements, trying to whip up excitement despite slightly slower timings overall than Kuchar, and doesn't cohere as well structurally as Kuchar, Blomstedt, Martinon or Ole Schmidt. It's relatively expensive too, although the BIS sonics are as usual hard to fault.

I have the Blomstedt set on Decca. I am hoping for others, I am not a great fan of Brilliant Classics. I have the Lutoslawski set, and the only decent symphony is the 3rd. Can I be convinced that the BC set of Nielsen symphonies would be worth acquiring?

The Bis set looks tempting!!

[meles]

Reading your thread reminds me of my bargain label LP buying days. I guess you probably did not write the wrong number down. My guess is that the number you wrote down was VICS1148, which was Beethoven Syms 1/8 VPO Monteux, which was deleted when RCA became independent of Decca. RCA then reallocated the number to the Martinon Nielsen 4 resulting in your serendipitous acquisition. Did you use the Penguin Basrgain Guides to make your selections?

Oh dear! Too long ago for me to remember!

[Colonel Danby]

I've loved Nielsen's music for years, when in 1987 I borrowed an university friend's recording of the Espansiva and the Clarinet Concerto which had recently been released on Bis with Chung and the Gothenburg SO: I was immediately hooked, line and sinker, and rushed out to buy my own copy and the rest as they came out. Then Simon Rattle did a whole cycle of the symphonies with the CBSO, and the wonderful Robert Layton introducing them from the stage in Symphony Hall Birmingham.

Nielsen's music is great stuff (though Rued Langgaard wouldn't agree with me).

[aeolium]

I've enjoyed every minute of this week's CotW, excellently put together and presented by Donald Macleod. There was a very good range of Nielsen's output in almost every genre and some magical performances. As I think S_A commented near the start of this thread, there was a fascinating combination of naivety and sophistication, and a humanity and optimism shining through even the dark passages.

Especially enjoyable were some of the (to me) lesser known works such as the Strophic Songs and some of the piano music (I loved Aksel Schiotz' singing of one of the Strophic Songs).

A wonderful CotW and when there is so much gloom about weekday mornings on R3, it's good to have something to praise

[Serial_Apologist]

Is it possible this week's COTW on Nielsen is a repeat of the one discussed in this thread? Or has there been an intervening week on the composer? I note an (R) at the bottom of the page in RT.

Anyway, another chance to re-assess a composer in whose music has always come across to me as that of an innate conservative who felt impelled to progress his own particular vision of where 20th century music should go, the characteristics of which I've always felt somewhat in two minds.

[Bryn]

Is it possible this week's COTW on Nielsen is a repeat of the one discussed in this thread? Or has there been an intervening week on the composer? I note an (R) at the bottom of the page in RT.

Anyway, another chance to re-assess a composer in whose music has always come across to me as that of an innate conservative who felt impelled to progress his own particular vision of where 20th century music should go, the characteristics of which I've always felt somewhat in two minds.

It was first broadcast beginning Monday 8th July last year.

[jayne lee wilson]

Just out, hardly known, certainly new to this devoted Nielsonian & very intriguing....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/nielsen-complete-works-for-violin-solo-violin-and-piano-hasse-borup-andrew-staupe/gvytbm59hb7bb

One of the greatest of symphonists, but there is more to it.... even the String Quartets are all but ignored now (excellent BIS or Naxos recordings though & others), and the 2nd Sonata here is extraordinary (included on Friday ep.5)... do try the Commotio..... scarcely an easy listen especially if you share my aversion to organs, but I recall Simpson saying that in Nielsen's output, perhaps only the 4th and 5th Symphonies are any greater....

But the Symphonies have been wonderfully revitalised by all the new recordings of the last few years... good to see Paavo Järvi's Frankfurt 3rd in there this week (if only excerpted), from a cycle I really admire.....