The Nielsen Nexus

[MDL]

I believe Blomstedt's EMI cycle is about to be reissued on a 3-for-1 EMI Triple. Any comments on this: judging by the concertos/overtures disc I assume the playing isn't as fine as in his later Decca cycle, but Blomstedt's Nielsen is consistently good.

I never really connected with Schmidt's cycle, and traded it away. I seem to be the odd man out here.

Blomstedt's SFSO Decca recordings of the symphonies were my introduction to Nielsen, and they'd probably be my desert island choice. But there's a gruff, unvarnished intensity to Schmidt's cycle that I respond to. As I said earlier, his Sixth is quite special.

[Joe Barron]

Finally, something I agree with Alex Ross about!

I like the Schmidt cycle, too.

[Hector]

I love everything about "The Inextinguishable."

As for this recording:



I just recieved and listened to my copy, and it is everything D Minor says it is: lovely music in sparkling performances. The program is an interesting mixture of early and late works, contrasting the heroic period of Nieslen's youth with his more introspective old age, though the earliest piece on the disk, Snefrid, which dates from 1893/94, is one of the most subdued. Very little of this work resembles the music of the great middle symphonies, but it deserves to be better known.

For those reasons, clearly, one of the discs of the year but it never got a look-in anywhere!

[BachQ]

CARL NIELSEN
Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 6 "Sinfonia semplice"
Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Michael Schonwandt

Naxos- 8.570737(CD)





"Originally released on Dacapo, this was the final installment of Michael Schonwandt's excellent complete Nielsen cycle (reviewed by colleague David Hurwitz, type Q2744 in Search Reviews). The performances are outstanding for their vibrancy and warmth--qualities you would expect in No. 1, but are equally present in the somewhat more acerbic No. 6. True, there's more virtuoso orchestral playing (particularly in No. 6's finale) to be heard from the San Francisco Symphony under a more driven Herbert Blomstedt, but the Danish National Radio Symphony players provide an unforced naturalness that is quite ingratiating. The recording itself has similar qualities--the orchestra placed comfortably in a spacious acoustic with wide dynamic range. These are just the sorts of performances that debunk the notion, most recently voiced by the New York Times, that "Nielsen is a nice composer: a little north of good, considerably south of great". An important release, made even more attractive by the Naxos price." [5/13/2008]

--Victor Carr Jr

[The new erato]

Very fine disc, as I've noted in another thread, and now Naxos have announced nr symphony 2/3 released on the next disc in the series.

Another two brand new releases of potential interest are:



Chamber Music Vol. 2

The Violin Sonatas and works for Solo Violin

Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano, Op. 9 in A major (1895)
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, Op. 35 (1912)
Prelude, Theme and Variations, Op. 48 for solo violin (1923)
Preludio e Presto, op. 52 for solo violin (1928)

and



Looks like a tough month for Nielsen-lovers!

[BachQ]

Thanks, erato!



CARL NIELSEN
Symphonies Nos. 4 "The Inextinguishable" & 5
Danish National Radio Symphony

Michael Schonwandt

Dacapo- 8224156(CD)
Reference Recording - This One; Bernstein/Sony (Symphony No. 5); Gibson/Chandos (Symphony No. 4)



Carl Nielsen's last three symphonies operate on many levels, and perhaps this is why they have proven to be so elusive on disc. Many a great conductor has crashed on the Inextinguishable's treacherous rocks, missing the music's vital current and getting bogged in down in leaden tempos. Leonard Bernstein made the mistake of reading an unnecessary melancholy into Nielsen's soaring melodies, while Herbert von Karajan seems to have been the victim of a cruel hoax--someone replaced the title page of his score with the name "Bruckner". Truly successful performances have been few. Among these are Jean Martinon's galvanizing rendition with the Chicago Symphony and Paavo Berglund's with the Royal Danish Orchestra, both on RCA, and Alexander Gibson's dynamic, superbly recorded account on Chandos with the Scottish National Orchestra.

This new recording on Dacapo by Michael Schonwandt and the Danish National Radio Symphony now joins this exclusive club. Schonwandt's winning interpretation reflects a profound identification with Nielsen's idiom, and under his baton the music issues forth as naturally as breathing
In sum, these performances stand as the best modern recordings of these symphonies available, and
Dacapo's engineers capture them in a wonderfully realistic and natural acoustic.

[7/25/2000] --Victor Carr

[Brian]

Very fine disc, as I've noted in another thread, and now Naxos have announced nr symphony 2/3 released on the next disc in the series.

Yep, they're re-releasing the Da Capo series featuring the Danish Radio orchestra and Michael Schonwandt. Next month comes the volume you mention, so I'm assuming the third and final CD will be out in July. 

[12tone.]

Yep, they're re-releasing the Da Capo series featuring the Danish Radio orchestra and Michael Schonwandt. Next month comes the volume you mention, so I'm assuming the third and final CD will be out in July. 

So the Da Capo series cycle and and standard Naxos series cycle will be out? 

[Brian]

So the Da Capo series cycle and and standard Naxos series cycle will be out? 

Naxos has a series with another orchestra and conductor (Arthur Fagen?) which will be out, and in addition the Michael Schonwandt cycle will be available on both Da Capo and Naxos (same performances). 

[Joe Barron]

Just a reminder:

Today, June 9, 2008, is Carl Nielsen's 143rd birthday. Celebrate by listening to something of his. I recently a acquired a very fine recording of the Wind Quintet perfromaned by the Philadelphia Wind Quintet, and this mroning i listend to Martinon wonderful performance of the Inextinguishable in my car on the way to work. I've also acquired the Blomstedt-SPO version of teh symphonies, and as good as they are, I'm looking forward to getting the complete Schonwandt set on Naxos.

Temperature in Philadelphia today is 98---or 34 C, and my living room, where the stero is, is not air conditoned. I doubt I'll be listening to much this evening.

[karlhenning]

Today, June 9, 2008, is Carl Nielsen's 143rd birthday.

O frabjous day!

. . . my living room, where the stero is, is not air conditoned. I doubt I'll be listening to much this evening.

Oof: the unliveable living room . . . .

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Just a reminder:

Today, June 9, 2008, is Carl Nielsen's 143rd birthday.

AND that of Albéric Magnard, who sometimes, in passing, manages to sound like Nielsen without having ever heard a note of him...

[mahler10th]

Quote from: Joe
. . . my living room, where the stero is, is not air conditoned. I doubt I'll be listening to much this evening.

Aye Joe, open the windows, turn on the fan, and turn up Nielsens Fourth and let it blast some.  You will feel much cooler.

[Joe Barron]

The recording itself has similar qualities--the orchestra placed comfortably in a spacious acoustic with wide dynamic range. These are just the sorts of performances that debunk the notion, most recently voiced by the New York Times, that "Nielsen is a nice composer: a little north of good, considerably south of great".

That quotation comes from the word processor of Bernard Holland. Couldn't you tell? He should have been able to recognize south of great, since he spent so much time there himself.  Just one in a long list of questionable judgments.

[mahler10th]

I notice no-one has posted on Neeme Jarvi's set with the GSO. Like everyone else, I did a bit of comparing with Schmidt (my way, by ripping to wav and analysng the forms in a multi-track sequencer), listening to the differences between the two, what was what in each recording, where and why.  Yes, I agree that Ole Schmidts take on the Symphonies is quite raw and powerful in all the right places, but Jarvi has brought something more; the contrasts between woodwind and strings are more pronounced, the quality of recording is better (obviously), and there is a feeling of both power and distance in Jarvi's all encompassing take on the fourth in which one is literally swept along.  But then, Schmidts first is free of Orchestral tricks, does exactly what it says on the tin, is clear and direct and wins over Jarvi through sheer force - although the same cannot be said of the second...
Overall, I have three Nielsen sets, Schmidt, Jarvi and...er...oh hell, I forgot, I'll come back and edit...and my favourite for gutsy Nielsen expression with superb playing is the Jarvi set.

[71 dB]

I think the Nielsen Symphony cycle I have (Adrian Leaper) is the only one that is NEVER talked about. Am I the only one who has heard it or is it just so forgettable? I like the performances but I haven't heard others. I really like the J. F. Willumsen paintings in the cover of the Naxos cycle and I am disappointed to see Willumsen's art is not used in the Schonwandt cycle (Dacapo cycle has horrible cover art).

[Henk]

I notice no-one has posted on Neeme Jarvi's set with the GSO. Like everyone else, I did a bit of comparing with Schmidt (my way, by ripping to wav and analysng the forms in a multi-track sequencer), listening to the differences between the two, what was what in each recording, where and why.  Yes, I agree that Ole Schmidts take on the Symphonies is quite raw and powerful in all the right places, but Jarvi has brought something more; the contrasts between woodwind and strings are more pronounced, the quality of recording is better (obviously), and there is a feeling of both power and distance in Jarvi's all encompassing take on the fourth in which one is literally swept along.  But then, Schmidts first is free of Orchestral tricks, does exactly what it says on the tin, is clear and direct and wins over Jarvi through sheer force - although the same cannot be said of the second...
Overall, I have three Nielsen sets, Schmidt, Jarvi and...er...oh hell, I forgot, I'll come back and edit...and my favourite for gutsy Nielsen expression with superb playing is the Jarvi set.

After listening to S. 3 I want more Nielsen. This looks an interesting set (the Schmidt isn't available anymore). I also am curious about his piano music, but the recordings on Naxos are not on the market anymore..

Henk

[not edward]

After listening to S. 3 I want more Nielsen. This looks an interesting set (the Schmidt isn't available anymore). I also am curious about his piano music, but the recordings on Naxos are not on the market anymore..

Henk

The Naxos recordings of the piano music are very ordinary, to be honest--once you hear Andsnes (confession, I don't know how the various Danish recordings compare, though) I doubt you would want to go back to Sievewright's routine playing.

[Henk]

The Naxos recordings of the piano music are very ordinary, to be honest--once you hear Andsnes (confession, I don't know how the various Danish recordings compare, though) I doubt you would want to go back to Sievewright's routine playing.

Are you referring to a particular recording of Andsnes?

[Dundonnell]

I remember back in the early 1960s when Nielsen was hardly ever played in Britain reading Robert Simpson's book on the composer and then buying LPs of the 2nd and 5th Symphonies conducted by Thomas Jensen and the 4th by Launy Grondahl. There are those old Nielsen afficianados who will tell you that these early recordings have never been surpassed! I still have the LPs in my collection. There is an authenticity and sheer burning intensity which is quite remarkable!

I also recall as a schoolboy having long arguments with friends about which was the greater composer-Sibelius or Nielsen
Wouldn't get into that sort of argument today

Two of my favourite short Nielsen compositions are the marvellous Overture "Helios" and-an especial favourite-the Rhapsody Overture "An Imaginary Journey to the Faeroe Islands". Both are magical pieces!