Nielsen, Carl (1865-1931)

[Beef Oven!]

While I quite enjoy Nielsen's clarinet concerto and his string quartets (esp 3&4), it is his symphonies that I'm most enamoured with. Symphony #2 'The Four Temperaments' was the first one that I was acquainted with, via a CD that came free with the BBC music Magazine. I was captured immediately. It's still a favourite.

In the early 1990s, I was lucky enough to catch Sir Simon Rattle and the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performing all six symphonies over several nights in London at the Barbican Centre. To my ears , they were astounding performances and it had something to do with the synergy produced by a conductor, orchestra and repertoire whose combination were made in Heaven! And also, perhaps, this was the artistic and performing peak of Sir Simon's association with the CBSO. Maybe he's never matched this, but that's another story for another thread!

Robert Simpson was an admirer and many of his works show the Nielsen influence. Simpson particularly advocated symphony #3, if I'm not wrong.

Many CDs, many listens and many concerts in the ensuing 29 years, and I'd be hard pushed to choose a favourite symphony or recording.

But for tonights playlist I shall pick two contenders:

Symphony #3 performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Chung Myung-Whun with wordless singing from Finnish soprano Pia Raanoja, and the Norwegian Bass, Knut Skram in the andante pastorale second movement.

Symphony #5 Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra directed by Ole Schmidt.

Horenstein, Blomstedt, Storgårds, Schønwandt, Berglund et al, for another evening.

[jayne lee wilson]

(copying over from downloads-bought.....)

One of the Nielsen sets to appear across the 150th anniversary which often gets overlooked...
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/ca.../0886445651034

Much better sound than the dull-Barbican-bound Davis, P-Järvi is not the always the last word in thrill-rides, but never dull and very consistently rewarding to live with and revisit. Seems better every time I go back (and for me, largely surpasses his Dad's uneven, somewhat generalised attempts).
But the whole landscape changed with the appearance of those cycles from Oramo (almost unsurpassable 1 & 3, 2 & 6), Storgards/BBCPO, and Gilbert - whose NYPO (Da Capo 24/96//192, marvellously sweet & spacious) series came in for some carping, but again, always surprises me with its enduring quality - a large-scale, often richly Romantic-Heroic view. The climaxes in No.2 really sweep you away! Outstanding Concerto album too.

Most of these cycles have their ups and downs (Oramo's 4th and 5th are less inspired, for example) but the best of them are essential listening for the devotee - they all move on the state of the Nielsen art. If I had to recommend just one? Surprisingly perhaps - the Frankfurt RSO/Järvi, not as individually intense as some, but very consistent, in good modern sound (24/44.1).
(Of the older classics I love Blomstedt's earlier Danish one, but its idiomatic beauties are offset by a certain orchestral looseness - provincial-sounding in both a good and a bad sense!)

My first Nielsen purchases were - No.5, Bournemouth SO/Berglund, EMILP; No.4, BPO/Karajan. DGLP.
The lifelong love affair began.....

[Beef Oven!]

Jayne, do you still have the DG HvK vinyl LP

[jayne lee wilson]

Jayne, do you still have the DG HvK vinyl LP

No, I sold it to.... someone.. IIRC, a Liverpool-born city-boy stockbroker who must have it stashed in Paris or Dubai now. (Unless he decided to cash in on vinyl too...a few years ago, he said "I don't listen to much music these days...")...

"What should it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his soul...."
(From......Robert Bolt, Man for All Seasons. Thomas to Rich).

[Beef Oven!]

No, I sold it to.... someone.. IIRC, a Liverpool-born city-boy stockbroker who must have it stashed in Paris or Dubai now. (Unless he decided to cash in on vinyl too...a few years ago, he said "I don't listen to much music these days...")...

Funny enough, I sold my HvK Mahler 4, 5 & 6 DG vinyl LPs to an Oxford born city-boy stockbroker. I am reliably informed that he never played them and they are now presumed lost.

[cloughie]

Jensen 1,5 Garaguly 2 and Martinon 4 were my intros.

[richardfinegold]

The Nielsen Symphonies have been core repertoire for me ever since the first Blomstedt cycle was released here on lp in the seventies, and I have a few cycles and one offs of individual works. I haven’t gotten along as well with Concertos, however.

[gurnemanz]

I'm always on the lookout for out-of-the way song material and a few years ago I acquired this most appealing Nielsen disc from Inger Dam-Jensen and Morten Ernst Lassen with Ulrich Stærk on piano. It offers a selection of settings from all periods of his creative output, including romances and some more folksy items, generally quite unostenatious and catchy and beautifully put across by the two singers, who are a couple in real life and come together appropriately for the last track in a witty duet from the opera Maskerade.

[jayne lee wilson]

(Gathered here from Listening for easier reference....)

Nielsen Symphonies 1 & 2. (from Complete cycle...tbc...)
Frankfurt Radio SO/Paavo Järvi. RCA 24/44.1. Rec. 2009-13.
All but No.1 in the excellent Alte Oper)

Fine, thoughtful, well balanced, energetic and unusually detailed readings (in good neutral, clear sound), very subtle dynamics as well. Excitement where apt, never ever overblown.
Great longer-term listening rewards so paradoxically: a good one for the seasoned Nielsonian - or a great place to start!

Nielsen. Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4. Frankfurt RSO/Paavo Järvi. RCA 24/44.1 rec. 2009-13.

I almost feel ashamed not to have promoted the virtues of this set earlier and more enthusiastically now. Often only on revisits isn't it, that you really get to the truth of things. So swift, direct and clear, symphonic argument the main point, terrific inner detail and contrapuntal clarity, but not underselling the thrills. Possibly the best sounding - most sympathetically-recorded, musically consistent cycle I've yet heard.... ...woodwinds very well foregrounded, with a strikingly penetrative piccolo!

Even sticking points like the 3rd's finale - so often too heavy, rhythmically unclear, or just too slow and rhetorical - is perfectly done, with clarity, energy and symphonic point.

Now for 5 and 6! (Or maybe 6 and 5…)

***
Nielsen Symphony No.6. Frankfurt Radio SO/Paavo Järvi RCA 24/44.1 rec.2011. (WAV, download).

Tense, taut and very vividly characterised (but never cartoonish even in the humoreske) this feels like a classic 6th to set alongside my previous Oramo reference (with Storgårds as the individualistic outrider, Gilbert as the beautiful one).

The sound does get a shade fierce (often apt in this work) and there's a hint of congestion in one or two places, but the climax to the 1st movement is truly shocking - just as it should be; and Järvi give us no respite when its unexpected second wave sweeps in. Then that uneasy, so near yet so far, almost-bliss in the coda. A gravely intense proposta seria, a ruthlessly precise, yet by-the-scruff-and-the-throat finale....

A great Nielsen 6th.
(I didn't reach No.5, as I kept going back over this 6th, at least three times + excerpts...! It really is that good.)

***
Nielsen Symphony No.5. Frankfurt Radio SO/Paavo Järvi RCA 24/44.1 rec.2011. (WAV, download).

So to the great 5th, and this is another terrific performance. Jarvi paces and shapes the two great segments wonderfully well, reserving the highest power and intensity for the final exhilaration after a 2nd Movement full of keenly-defined energy and interpretative interest. What an extraordinary, extended last chord he gives us too!

Which is not to say the first movement’s climax is underplayed: it is very fulfilling, but - with that longer-term view in mind, clarity is evidently more important to Järvi, than out-and-out violence of the side-drum or the euphoria of the peak itself. After a notably spacious, atmospheric, lyrical account of the first part (very different from the frenetic 6th - Järvi characterising each distinctively) you really can hear every line and detail right through this huge clash of forces. If you don’t listen to Nielsen often (and usually only to 3-5, say), perhaps you’ll desire greater extremity here; but all too often it can degenerate into noise, or leave you exhausted before the 2nd movement takes off so breathlessly itself.
Järvi balances it all beautifully - and the coda with its hushed clarinet, is very delicate, very withdrawn.

It was a pity that this set appeared in early 2016, after several cycles had appeared before and across the 150th Anniversary, with the result that after spending most of a year listening to them, I couldn’t face any more Nielsen just then. I began the Jarvi, but soon laid it aside.

Well now I needn’t hold back: Simply one the best Nielsen Cycles out there, sonically and musically; great longer-term listening rewards so paradoxically: a good one for the seasoned Nielsonian - or a great place to start.

… And now my official No.1!

***
***

Nielsen Symphonies. No.1; No.2…. BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 . 2015 release..

Unusually probing, thoughtful approach, with expressively varied tempi, - a fresh view or vista around each musical corner. Still quite rugged enough and rhythmically firm, but the moderate tempi and rubato, with the detailed, well-resolved sound warmer than most other Nielsen cycles, (a lovely softness to the lyrical passages) create a very distinctive impression.
Subtly compelling especially if you know the works already.

So it goes with No.2 - striking variety and subtly of tonal colour, phrase and attack; unusual light and shade, and that tendency to moderate tempo variabile again, lending to it an almost Brucknerian feel sometimes.
And have the BBCPhil ever sounded more beautiful on record than this? A wonderful warmth and softness to the strings in lyrical and delicate passages (e.g. the coda to the andante), but springy resilience when things get livelier. Rounded, refulgent brass and sweetly blended winds. Lovely!

Nielsen Symphonies No.3; No.4. BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 . 2015 release..

Whilst still thoughtfully done, I felt the 3rd showed the drawbacks of Storgards’ approach; always interesting, beautifully played, but too often I had the feeling of a slightly laid-back performance redeemed by some splendid climaxes. Those in the latter stages of the finale are of a splendour to almost-compensate, but… rather too much of the studio about this one.

The 4th goes far better - subtlety, poetry and power in excellent sound, with rugged wide-ranging climaxes; tempi perfectly judged. Terrific timpani!
And yet, and yet….did Storgards (evidently with an eye on reserving power for the finale) push through the adagio climax a little too swiftly?
It left me a little short-changed… and the end, whilst sonically fine, didn’t quite lift me out of the chair…

[BBMmk2]

JLW, many thanks for this. I have the Storgards cycle. So, for the most part I’m glad you viewed his cycle more or less favourably! I also have Blonstec’s Decca cycle as well. Most excellent!

[LMcD]

JLW, many thanks for this. I have the Storgards cycle. So, for the most part I’m glad you viewed his cycle more or less favourably! I also have Blonstec’s Decca cycle as well. Most excellent!

I have the Blomstedt cycle and revisit it regularly. I also have the concerti on Chandos, plus some smaller-scale works.

[Beef Oven!]

Thanks Jayne for post #9 - a fair bit to think about there. As previously mentioned, my Nielsen is from the usual suspects!

John Storgårds is interesting. A quick look at my 'shelves' and I see that I only have some Nørgård symphonies and Holmboe chamber symphonies. Tip-top performances, of course.

[jayne lee wilson]

Nielsen Symphony No.6….BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 download . 2015 release..

In astoundingly beautiful 24/96 sound, the Storgårds 6th has to be the most astonishing reading I’ve ever heard: so probing and exploratory, seeking out every tiny deal, whether tragic, cartoonish or phantasmagorical. Those ghosts tiptoeing through the nursery in (i) have never been more haunting, yet the music is laid analytically bare as well; when the main climax arrives it is truly shattering - all the more so in such a thoughtful context.
Storgårds even finds subtly poetic expression in the humoreske, drawing it out, inspecting every note of it; the proposta seria crystalline yet grave - with a mesmerising, long-breathed coda on horns and winds (a passage surely among any Nielsonian’s greatest moments….I wish it would never end).
All these irreconcilables meet in the finale’s parliament of angels and demons, and the ear is compelled by their power, character and sheer finesse.

This Nielsen 6th really does stop you in your tracks; if you know the music well and love it as much as I do, you have to find a way of hearing it.
Once upon a time, one would say “worth buying the box for the 6th alone”…. but since the advent of streaming, there’s no need to agonise….

(had to place this separately due to the 10,000 character post-limit...also in "Listening"....)

[Barbirollians]

I also have the SFSO Blomstedt cycle and have always enjoyed them. Barbirolli's studio 4 and sensational live 5 which preceded no less a work than Mahler 7 are well worth hearing. As is Bernstein's coupling of 3 and 5 .

[cloughie]

Previn 1 and Gould 2 are also good choices.