However, after complaining about all that in a somewhat uptight and snobby fashion, if I absolutely HAD to choose a piece of classical music to use as a ringtone I think the first 30 seconds or so of this would be pretty swell:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And that’s because… DUN DUN DUN… it sounds like a freakin’ telephone.

That’s the second movement of Nielsen’s Symphony No. 6, by the way.

Sometimes this misbehavior results in serendipity. For example: this morning. As usual, I skipped down the gleaming, freshly painted steps of my house, brimming with enthusiasm for the day ahead. As I pranced down our path, the family of bunnies in our yard (the Benjamins) paused their game of jump-rope, just long enough to call out a cheerful “top o’ the morning, mister Smith!”. The widely grinning sun tipped his sunglasses and gave me a thumbs up, before removing an embroidered white handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping the perspiration from his forehead. The milkman whistled Frere Jacques as he clinked and clanked merrily up the cobblestones.

Everything seemed so normal and boring, so average.

Then came the shocker. As I pressed the play button on my mp3 player, unfamiliar music wafted violently into the sides of my head. And it was awesome. I swear to god I didn’t leave it paused there before, it was like, providence, or something.

It’s the Nielsen string quartet no. 2. It’s got that funky not-quite-tonal thing going on, which totally floats my boat, and carries my tote, and tethers my goat. If I listen to it more and really get into it I’ll give you more detailed feedback than fanciful caprine (frickin’ word of the day right there, folks) wordplay.

I have managed to find a bit of time to listen to music, mostly during the brief jaunts between home and lab. I’ll have tonnes more time over the next week. Here’s what’s been on the menu:

• Nielsen – I’ve been going through one of those rediscovery periods with Nielsen recently, where you listen to all these pieces that once got a lot of headphone time, and wonder why on earth you stopped listening to them. This time around I’ve been back to the last three symphonies, but also added two string quartets. The biggest rediscovery is probably the slow movements from the 4th symphony — I had either not noticed, or totally forgotten, how they have this deliciously slightly-broken Romantic sound. Like the little off-key chirrups in the 2nd movement, and the ominous timpani in the 3rd.
• Mahler – Yep, still working on him! The 9th symphony is working out really well, I’ve listened to the kick-arse 2nd movement infinity more times than I can count, and am starting to properly branch into the other movements. The rather awesome Ben Zander sent me a bunch of CDs this week (with his performances of the 1st, 5th and 9th) all of which also include a CD with him discussing the pieces. I am looking forward to listening to those while lounging around the living room in Maine.
• CPE Bach – The 5th symphony (sinfonia, whatever) totally rocks.

Lying in wait for me upon my return were two previously ordered CDs – neither of which I have had much of a chance to listen to yet. I have:

Which completes my set of Nielsen symphonies (plus other opus goodies). After listening to everything through approximately once, my first impressions are that these symphonies sound a little more traditional – and more romantic – then the last three. In places some of it almost sounded like Tchaikovsky. I’ll probably completely change my mind after a bit more listening, though.

I also got this copy of the 12 London symphonies of Haydn. As I’ve been humming the ubiquitous second movement of the “Surprise” for about a year, and don’t actually own any Haydn (other then this brand spanking new CD) I thought it was about time to do some Franz Joseph purchasing. I have this wild dream where one day I will be able to distinguish Haydn from Mozart.

This is the kind of thing Schnittke does (taken from the second movement of his viola concerto):

And here is the section of Nielsen’s 6th symphony:

The Nielsen is even more surprising, in a way, because of the (comparably) reasonably normal tonality preceding the outbursts. It really jumps out at you. With Schnittke you’re always three-quarters expecting (Get it? It’s like half-expecting, but more so) something like that to happen. The Nielsen is one of the most sonically violent passages I know of from that time period – it was written in 1924/1925. I really like it. I love pieces which play off tonal order, versus disorder.

It might well be blatantly similar, but I can’t comment, as I haven’t seen it. Yet. It actually looks pretty intriguing, but lets keep on track here…

Every time I listen to Nielsen’s symphony No. 5, composed in 1922. I keep hearing the bloody star wars theme. For anyone who can’t remember what the theme sounds like, have a hit on this youtube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here’s a snippet from Nielsen 5, start of the 2nd movement:

Pretty similar aren’t they? Except the Nielsen has that delicious dissonance and is way more awesome. Please don’t kill me, internet Star Wars fans.

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

So anyway, in conclusion, Nielsen kicks arse.