The Fifth: Sibelius or Nielsen?

Started by Symphonic Addict, November 24, 2021, 06:27:20 PM

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Which Fifth Symphony you would like to conserve for yourself for the rest of your life?

Sibelius
Nielsen

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Symphonic Addict

Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Sergeant Rock

#62
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on December 01, 2021, 06:19:57 PM
Wise choices.  ;D

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 01, 2021, 06:12:42 PM
Can't blame you. Neither could I.

The Sixth is the most quirky symphony from each composer...and I love their quirkiness equally  ;D

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Karl Henning

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on December 01, 2021, 06:24:45 PM
The Sixth is the most quirky symphony from each composer...and I love their quirkiness equally  ;D

Sarge

That's beautiful.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Wanderer

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on December 01, 2021, 06:10:30 PM
1-S
2-N
3-N
4-S
5-S
6-SN (Can't choose)

Sarge

And I can't choose between their Thirds!

1-S
2-S
3-SN
4-N
5-S (emphatically)
6-S

Pohjolas Daughter

Well, the poll results are currently dead even at 10 votes apiece.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

TheGSMoeller

Make that 11 a piece. And I voted for Sibelius, the "swan-calls" of the third movement are reason enough.

Brahmsian

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on December 02, 2021, 07:31:39 PM
Make that 11 a piece. And I voted for Sibelius, the "swan-calls" of the third movement are reason enough.

⬆️

This

Symphonic Addict

The intriguing and constantly pulsing of the violas at the very beginning, joined by the bassoon to introduce that catchy, witty and spiteful. One of many reasons to prefer the Nielsen, but as I've said, I loooooove Sibelius insistently. I remember at the university that I had associated the glorious swan theme with a girl I was fallen in love with. Her beauty could be compared to that spectacular passage in Sibelius's magnificent creation.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

kyjo

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on December 03, 2021, 05:49:02 PM
The intriguing and constantly pulsing of the violas at the very beginning, joined by the bassoon to introduce that catchy, witty and spiteful. One of many reasons to prefer the Nielsen, but as I've said, I loooooove Sibelius insistently. I remember at the university that I had associated the glorious swan theme with a girl I was fallen in love with. Her beauty could be compared to that spectacular passage in Sibelius's magnificent creation.

What a lovely association! :)

P.S. It's great to see these two masterworks equally tied in the poll!
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

MusicTurner

Quote from: kyjo on December 03, 2021, 07:43:40 PM
What a lovely association! :)

P.S. It's great to see these two masterworks equally tied in the poll!

Agree, one would perhaps have expected Sibelius to be the most popular, according to tradition ...

Karl Henning

I'll note again that in my vote, it was Nielsen by a hair's breadth :)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

kyjo

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 03, 2021, 08:36:35 PM
Agree, one would perhaps have expected Sibelius to be the most popular, according to tradition ...

Indeed, the Sibelius is certainly performed in concert more often, but the Nielsen's qualities are almost universally recognized by serious classical listeners like ourselves. 8)
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: kyjo on December 03, 2021, 07:43:40 PM
What a lovely association! :)

P.S. It's great to see these two masterworks equally tied in the poll!

The forces are righly balanced, as they should be.  0:)
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Wanderer on December 01, 2021, 08:11:47 PM
And I can't choose between their Thirds!

I almost could feel the same way because I truly love the Sibelius 3 (and it's Mrs Rock's favorite) but no, the Nielsen has been one of my top five symphonies for over a half century.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Symphonic Addict

For you all: What are some of your favorite recordings for both works?
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on December 06, 2021, 07:28:03 PM
For you all: What are some of your favorite recordings for both works?

Vanska/Lahti & Blomstedt/SFS for Sibelius.

Don't listen to Nielsen's 5th that much but would say Blomstedt/SFS again, along with Esa-Pekka Salonen/SRSO.


MusicTurner

#77
Bernstein/NYPO for Nielsen;

Celibidache DG live, for at least a very exceptional Sibelius ...

amw

They're very standard answers, but accurate: Vänskä/Lahti (Sibelius), Bernstein/NY (Nielsen)... but for second choices, Berglund was also exceptional in Sibelius 5 (with a slight preference for me being the Bournemouth recording) and there's an equally exceptional one-off recording of Nielsen 5 from Kondrashin and the RCO, which exists in an out-of-print Philips single and one of the RCO boxsets (possibly also out-of-print) and can otherwise be heard here.

André

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on December 06, 2021, 07:28:03 PM
For you all: What are some of your favorite recordings for both works?

Rozhdestvensky for Sibelius and Gilbert for Nielsen. Other contenders: Sargent and Horenstein, respectively.