Classical Convert

What I’ve Been Listening To Lately: Nielsen

A couple of weeks ago this CD came flitting it’s way through my mailbox. Actually it got plonked down outside on our not-very-charming porch, for the birds to stare at - but it sounds way more romantic the other way. Well, regardless of it’s pre-listening sitting position it’s a rather splendid little package. It’s also the first Nielsen that I’ve had the pleasure to really properly sift through my ears.

Nielsen was active from the tail end of the romantic period right through into that awkward beginning of twentieth century stage. He died in 1931. His music (well, judging on the slightly limited repertoire that I’ve currently heard) definitely has a romantic sort of lushness to it, but it’s tempered with a bit of a brutal modern (and bleakly Scandinavian) edge. In places the orchestration reminds me of the more romanticy but dangerous bits of Prokofiev, and some of the harmonies reminds me of Bartok and Martinu. There are also several of what I think of as “American” sounding melodies. If I only had a decent (or, basically any) grasp of musical theory I might be able to more accurately convey what I mean. How sad.

The first CD is the one getting most of the airtime. It’s got his 4th (the “Inextinguishable”) and 5th symphonies. He’s got a thing for percussion, which I find instantly appealing: the 4th has a kind of timpani duel in the last movement, and in the 5th there is a wonderfully menacing, improvisational section for the snare drum (”as if at all costs to stop the progress of the orchestra”), playing at a different tempo from everybody else. That’s actually my favorite bit so far on this CD, the first movement of the 5th. It’s a great build-up, struggle and release. It reminds me a bit of the huge climax in the 2nd movement of Shosty’s symphony No. 11. Aggressive percussion and tortured strings, with the winds shrieking over the top.

Unfortunately I can’t find a recording of the 5th online, but there is a Youtube performance of the 4th symphony, 4th movement, with the timpani duel. It’s Osmo Vanska and the BBC symphony orchestra:

So anyway, in conclusion, Nielsen kicks arse.