Nielsen was once as
rare a visitor to the record catalogue
as Mahler. It was not all that long
ago that the Nielsen symphonies were
not available as a complete set from
one conductor and orchestra. 1975 saw
all that change. Before then you could
get to grips with these Danish symphonies
through isolated recordings conducted
by Jensen, Tuxen, Tango, Bernstein,
Previn and Ormandy. Of course latterly
there were others including Rattle,
Karajan, Thomson and others. In 1975
the 110th anniversary of Nielsen's birth
fell. During the early 1970s Danish
Radio and EMI Classics launched
a complete series of the symphonies.
The studio broadcast were taken on by
the Danish Radio SO and the selected
conductor was the young Herbert Blomstedt.
I seem to recall that the studio tapes
were broadcast by the BBC as well and
the EMI recordings were of separate
sessions.
In any event in 1975
record shops took delivery of supplies
of a thunderingly large spanking new
Nielsen box. There were eight LPs and
extensive notes. The cover bore a bas
relief medal of Nielsen's head. The
box was pretty comprehensive with most
of the free-standing short orchestral
pieces including several never previously
recorded. The six symphonies were there
plus the three concertos.
The present two EMI Classics
sets include the six symphonies, two
of the short orchestral pieces, two
choral pieces (Hymnus Amoris and
Søvnen) conducted by Mogens
Wöldike as well as the Melos Ensemble's
recording of the wind quintet. Each
two CD set is in a single width case
with decent notes by Peter Avis who
has worked hard to give the commentary
a fresh twist. No words or translations
are provided though EMI remind us that
these are to be had on the EMI Classics
website.
Over the years since
1975 EMI have mined that massive Blomstedt
set time and again. In the days of the
LP various items were issued on HMV Greensleeves.
In the CD era many of the recordings
were reissued on EMI Matrix as
well as the current Double Fforte issues.
I would not be at all surprised to see
this series appearing piecemeal on EMI Gemini.
Blomstedt does not
shy away from the rambunctious elements
in the first two symphonies yet he also
can emote in the calming brooks of andante
of the First. This mood returns for
the second movement of the Fourth. There
is plenty of excitement and visceral
excitement in the allegro orgoglioso
of the First and the outer movements
of the Second Symphony.
The first disc ends
with the Beecham style soothing of the
Bohemian-Danish Folk Tune rather
than anything too demanding - no sign
of Pan and Syrinx or Helios.
The second CD erupts
with the solar plexus punches of the
opening of Espansiva. As with
the Fourth Symphony this work, in its
moments of placid chilly stillness (second
movement), draws its creative strength
from pastoral images as spiritually
provocative as those that suffuse the
Pastoral and Fifth symphonies of Vaughan
Williams. The brass are vividly captured:
listen to their coarse blurt and blare
at the start of the third movement of
Espansiva. The finale, like the first
movement, has a bracingly confident
and swinging stride. The brass skirl
and all is well in the thunderously
affirmative finale.
Blomstedt goads his
Danish Radio players into a pulse-racing
start to the Fourth Symphony. In the
space of less than two minutes the strength
of the EMI technical team is evidenced
in the towering evocative ‘shouts of
joy’ as well as in the cello's well-efined
solo voice. The massively poignant fff
string assault at the start of third
movement is so strong it might easily
be Shostakovich as in the symphonies
5 , 6 or 7. The celebratory brass pull
no punches in the last movement allegro.
This erupts like a landscape alive with
fumaroles. Allegro is hardly
the word for much of this. The rolling
tawny horns make a magnificent sound
at 2.13 and 2.16.
The andante lamentoso
serves a similar Beecham-valedictory
purpose as the Folk Tune at the
end of CD1. Massive string sonority
sings out and embraces the listener.
The second set places
the last two symphonies with Sleep,
Hymnus Amoris and the Wind Quintet.
Those two symphonies are in stark contrast
to each other. The Sixth's almost Webern-like
spareness and pawky humour contrasts
with the masterly two movement Fifth
in which the active and the reflective
meet. The enigma of the Sixth meets
the heroic-epic Fifth. The effect of
the contrast is comparable with the
difference between Sibelius 4 and 5.
Blomstedt and the Danish Radio players
clearly know the music like the back
of their hands. This allows time and
space for some tense and memorable characterisation.
This can be heard in the Fifth in the
dazzle of birdsong at 6.30 in the first
movement. Armies march across the Nielsen
landscape captured in a capacious soundstage
that accommodates both massive climaxes
and spot-lit solos - and there are many
of these.
The second CD in the
second box could easily have accommodated
all three Nielsen concertos from the
original box. Instead EMI dart off in
another, though related, direction.
We leave Blomstedt behind and go for
two major choral/orchestral works conducted
by Mogens Wöldike (b. 1897). Hymnus
Amoris was prompted by memories
of his honeymoon in Italy with Anne
Marie Brodersen his sculptress wife.
This is a rounded and warmly songful
work with more than a trace of the Brahmsian
heritage but mixed with the first intimations
of Nielsen's distinctive pastoral voice.
The piece ends in jubilation - bells
and all. Four years later during the
early 1900s he wrote Søvnen
(Sleep). The four separately
banded movements speak of Childhood,
Youth , Manhood and Old Age and do this
through the latin poetry of Johan Ludvig Heiberg.
This work is in three movements and
is for chorus setting poems by Johannes
Jørgensen. Nielsen conducted
the premiere in 1905. An eldritch cabalistic
rite (En kval - en Tynge ... Ve mig
- er jeg vaagen) painted in sinister
sounds separates two peaceful episodes
in which Nielsen's elysian Brahmsian
choral style is dominant. All ends in
a murmurous glow.
The Melos Ensemble
give us their late 1960s Wind Quintet.
This work is from Nielsen's high maturity
and bursts with character. It was written
for the five musicians of the Copenhagen
Wind Quintet: Sven Christian Felumb
(oboe), who later conducted extracts
from Nielsen's Aladdin music,
Paul Hagemann (flute), Knud Lassen (bassoon),
Aage Oxenvad (clarinet) and Hans Sørensen
(horn). They gave the first public performance
on 9 October 1922. The Quintet is in
three movements: pensive and bubblingly
active in a restful glowing way. The
Melos Ensemble are well under the skin
of this music and village band wheeziness
comes easily to them as required in
the middle movement. Strange bleak and
lonely moods are also well put across
as in the creaking bleakness of Praeludium
leading to the pastoral roundels,
country church harmonies and quirky
defiance of the Tema con variazioni.
At this mid price/bargain
end of the catalogue there is competition
although not like-for-like. For years
the Ole Schmidt/LSO Unicorn series vied
head to head with the Blomstedt EMI.
So it continues now. Regis have packed
the three Unicorn CDs containing only
the six symphonies and rolled
this out at bargain price. Schmidt's
cycle may have had its imprecisions
but it is superbly recorded (Bob Auger)
and still rates top recommendation at
bargain and midfield levels. If you
like the spread and reach of these two
Nielsen Double Ffortes then go for it
- you will be tapping into some excellent
Nielsen readings. If you want just the
symphonies at bargain price then go
for the Regis - it’s a stunning bargain
and should be snapped up quickly. If
you want even more character and are
prepared to ‘put up’ with sixties sound
then try the Sony
Essential Classics box with the
symphonies variously conducted by Ormandy
and Bernstein.
The readings are splendid
and Blomstedt's lively imagination and
attention to mood and instrumental detail
make these recordings endlessly rewarding.
They sound better than ever (and I still
have that massive breeze block of a
box under the stairs). The work of David
Mottley, Evald Rasmussen and Neville
Boyling can now be much better appreciated.
Rob Barnett
Kirsten Schulz (sop); Peter Rasmussen (ten)
‡