The Nielsen Nexus

[DaveF]

I was revisiting it on this stellar recording...

I can just imagine what Nielsen would have done with tentative concertos for oboe, horn and bassoon had he lived longer.

I didn't know that recording so, as something of a collector of Nielsen clarinet concertos, I'm very grateful for the introduction.  It sounds good - but then everyone sounds good in it these days - gone are the times when you listened to a new recording wondering what would go wrong this time.  Šparovec's sound is perhaps a little too polite for my taste, not quite wild enough (he won't displace my all-time favourite:
)
but I especially enjoyed the earthy basses and snappy snare-drum - all drummers can play it now as well, which wasn't always the case.  (I was once booked to play the part with a local orchestra - it was a great relief to me when they changed the programme to a concerto by Crusell, since the strings couldn't play the Nielsen.)

Regarding the missing 3 wind concertos, I agree they are a great loss, but I'm not sure Nielsen would ever have written them, even if he and Sibelius could have exchanged life-spans.  He had to be bullied into writing the one for clarinet by Oxenvad (who was a bully, so that worked OK), but in his remaining 6 years I think his interests were moving away into the purer sound-world of the 3 Motets and Commotio.  (At least that's how I console myself for not having those concertos.)

[Karl Henning]

Regarding the missing 3 wind concertos, I agree they are a great loss, but I'm not sure Nielsen would ever have written them, even if he and Sibelius could have exchanged life-spans.  He had to be bullied into writing the one for clarinet by Oxenvad (who was a bully, so that worked OK), but in his remaining 6 years I think his interests were moving away into the purer sound-world of the 3 Motets and Commotio.  (At least that's how I console myself for not having those concertos.)

I think I can make that work for me, too.

[W.A. Mozart]

How do you rate this piece?

San Francisco Symphony conducted by Herbert Blomstedt.

[Symphonic Addict]

Absolutely lovely, inspiriting, memorable, life-enhancing, wonderful, extraordinary... one of the most invigorating pieces of classical music I know. Needless to say I love it dearly. My favorite performance could be Rozhdestvensky on Chandos (I don't remember the orchestra right now).

[Daverz]

All that is necessary for rating a piece of music as music is to listen.

[Leo K.]

This opera is a revelation. I am immediately captured by the orchestration and melodies - great singing here too. Aces!

[Madiel]

This opera is a revelation. I am immediately captured by the orchestration and melodies - great singing here too. Aces!

And a totally fabulous recording. Amazing clarity.

[Mountain Goat]

How do you rate this piece?

San Francisco Symphony conducted by Herbert Blomstedt.

The very first piece I ever heard by Nielsen. I had just started university and was living away from home for the first time, so no longer had access to my parents' CDs. I started building a music collection by taping stuff off the radio, and was actively looking to expand my knowledge beyond the Classical and Romantic eras that my parents' tastes were limited to. So when I turned on the radio one evening and heard this being announced, I quickly grabbed a blank tape and just about managed to start recording in time.

It completely blew me away, I had never heard anything like it before. The life-affirming energy of the 1st movement, the amazing wordless voices in the 2nd, the "dance of the trolls" 3rd movement and finally the hymn tune in the finale - in the unlikely event that I manage to successfully start my own country, that will be the tune of its national anthem. This was the piece that opened the door to all post-Romantic music for me, and as a result still has a very special place in my heart.

[Leo K.]

This new release is simply incredible. Great sound quality. The performances are very powerful and aggressive. Amazing! I love this orchestra!

[krummholz]

The very first piece I ever heard by Nielsen. I had just started university and was living away from home for the first time, so no longer had access to my parents' CDs. I started building a music collection by taping stuff off the radio, and was actively looking to expand my knowledge beyond the Classical and Romantic eras that my parents' tastes were limited to. So when I turned on the radio one evening and heard this being announced, I quickly grabbed a blank tape and just about managed to start recording in time.

It completely blew me away, I had never heard anything like it before. The life-affirming energy of the 1st movement, the amazing wordless voices in the 2nd, the "dance of the trolls" 3rd movement and finally the hymn tune in the finale - in the unlikely event that I manage to successfully start my own country, that will be the tune of its national anthem. This was the piece that opened the door to all post-Romantic music for me, and as a result still has a very special place in my heart.

Ditto for me, almost - for me it was his 5th, heard live by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Sixten Ehrling, and then by the NYPO in Bernstein's classic recording. But the 3rd was next - again Bernstein - and it made an enormous impression on me. The Espansiva was one of my main influences inspiring me to try to compose as a teenager, and then as a college student. I still return to Carl Nielsen's symphonies, and other works like Commotio, for inspiration and they never cease to reward.

[Roasted Swan]

The very first piece I ever heard by Nielsen. I had just started university and was living away from home for the first time, so no longer had access to my parents' CDs. I started building a music collection by taping stuff off the radio, and was actively looking to expand my knowledge beyond the Classical and Romantic eras that my parents' tastes were limited to. So when I turned on the radio one evening and heard this being announced, I quickly grabbed a blank tape and just about managed to start recording in time.

It completely blew me away, I had never heard anything like it before. The life-affirming energy of the 1st movement, the amazing wordless voices in the 2nd, the "dance of the trolls" 3rd movement and finally the hymn tune in the finale - in the unlikely event that I manage to successfully start my own country, that will be the tune of its national anthem. This was the piece that opened the door to all post-Romantic music for me, and as a result still has a very special place in my heart.

Do you know this remarkable version of the Espansiva?



Its the complete symphony arranged for symphonic brass and cathedral organ.  The sound is genuinely epic.  Of course a massive re-imagining of the original work but it captures so much of the dynamic energy and life-force of the orchestral work that I have to say I love.  One to play loud when the neighbours are away and you've put the cat out.......

[kyjo]

Was recently listening to this exceptional CD (the violinist in the sonata is Christian Tetzlaff, no less):



Nielsen's piano music is very rarely mentioned, mainly because there's so little of it, but what little exists is of a very high quality. The two early works, the 5 Piano Pieces and Humoresque-Bagatelles, are mostly very brief but are packed with character and incident. But the real meat of the program comes with the three mature works: the Luciferian Suite (great title!), 3 Piano Pieces, and Chaconne. This is seriously fascinating stuff, fully in Nielsen's characteristic quirky and unpredictable style. And the Violin Sonata no. 2 is a substantial coupling, a complex, compelling, and again unpredictable work with a particularly enigmatic ending. It goes without saying that the performances here are scintillating and thoroughly idiomatic, given Nielsen's music a really powerful "thrust" when required.

[Symphonic Addict]

Was recently listening to this exceptional CD (the violinist in the sonata is Christian Tetzlaff, no less):



Nielsen's piano music is very rarely mentioned, mainly because there's so little of it, but what little exists is of a very high quality. The two early works, the 5 Piano Pieces and Humoresque-Bagatelles, are mostly very brief but are packed with character and incident. But the real meat of the program comes with the three mature works: the Luciferian Suite (great title!), 3 Piano Pieces, and Chaconne. This is seriously fascinating stuff, fully in Nielsen's characteristic quirky and unpredictable style. And the Violin Sonata no. 2 is a substantial coupling, a complex, compelling, and again unpredictable work with a particularly enigmatic ending. It goes without saying that the performances here are scintillating and thoroughly idiomatic, given Nielsen's music a really powerful "thrust" when required.

Very interesting, some years ago I began listening to the early piano pieces and I didn't continue exploring beyond. The music sounds right up my street (I do know the Violin Sonatas, though).

[DaveF]

Was recently listening to this exceptional CD (the violinist in the sonata is Christian Tetzlaff, no less):

Thanks for that post.  I was aware of that disc, but just assumed it was a reissue of LOA's old Nielsen piano disc (I have it as a 2-disc Nielsen and Janáček set from probably 30 years ago) - I hadn't read the small print and seen that the violin sonata was now included.  A lot of very good violinists (usually Nordic) have recorded the sonatas, but you could argue that Lydia Mordkovich is the only other "great" one to have done so.  So I'll have to get hold of that one - but probably in this version, to avoid duplication:



And no danger of being distracted from the music by an exciting CD cover!

[lunar22]

It completely blew me away, I had never heard anything like it before. The life-affirming energy of the 1st movement, the amazing wordless voices in the 2nd, the "dance of the trolls" 3rd movement and finally the hymn tune in the finale - in the unlikely event that I manage to successfully start my own country, that will be the tune of its national anthem. This was the piece that opened the door to all post-Romantic music for me, and as a result still has a very special place in my heart.

this has always been and remains to this day my favourite work by Nielsen and one of the most exhilarating and life-affirming symphonies ever written. Shame it's so little performed in concert compared to the ubiquitous 4th and 5th -- I've never been able to hear it live.

[Scion7]

Carl and his bird.

[prémont]

this has always been and remains to this day my favourite work by Nielsen and one of the most exhilarating and life-affirming symphonies ever written. Shame it's so little performed in concert compared to the ubiquitous 4th and 5th -- I've never been able to hear it live.

Yes, the fourth and fifth are indeed masterworks but even on that background the third is something special.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The very first piece I ever heard by Nielsen. I had just started university and was living away from home for the first time, so no longer had access to my parents' CDs. I started building a music collection by taping stuff off the radio, and was actively looking to expand my knowledge beyond the Classical and Romantic eras that my parents' tastes were limited to. So when I turned on the radio one evening and heard this being announced, I quickly grabbed a blank tape and just about managed to start recording in time.

It completely blew me away, I had never heard anything like it before. The life-affirming energy of the 1st movement, the amazing wordless voices in the 2nd, the "dance of the trolls" 3rd movement and finally the hymn tune in the finale - in the unlikely event that I manage to successfully start my own country, that will be the tune of its national anthem. This was the piece that opened the door to all post-Romantic music for me, and as a result still has a very special place in my heart.

Mr. President,

Oh, cool! 

Was this the same recording that you first heard?

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Carl and his bird.

His wife, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, was an amazing artist in her own right.  I wasn't familiar with her work before now.

https://nmwa.org/blog/artist-spotlight/danish-artist-anne-marie-carl-nielsen-part-1-of-2/

PD

[calyptorhynchus]

Do you know this remarkable version of the Espansiva?



Its the complete symphony arranged for symphonic brass and cathedral organ.  The sound is genuinely epic.  Of course a massive re-imagining of the original work but it captures so much of the dynamic energy and life-force of the orchestral work that I have to say I love.  One to play loud when the neighbours are away and you've put the cat out.......

What do they do about the wordless voices in the slow movement, wouldn't two soloists get drowned out by the brass?