Carl NIELSEN
Orchestral Works Volume 2
Symphony no 3 (Sinfonia Espansiva) op 27
Silken Shoe on golden last (tenor & orchestra)
Lower your head, O flower (soprano & orchestra)
Overture Helios op 17
Paraphrase on Nearer my God to thee
Eva Hess-Thayson (soprano)
and Jan Lund (tenor)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Douglas Bostock
Recorded in Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, January 2000
CLASSICO CLASSCD 297
[66:27]
Crotchet
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Douglas Bostock's growing reputation as a conductor is fully underlined by
this glowing performance of the Sinfonia Espansiva. He sustains the
urgent, throbbing pulse of the first movement, handles the characteristically
quirky third movement with great finesse and imbues the finale with the requisite
degree of warmth and muscularity. The disc also contains two performances
of the second movement - the version invariably heard with wordless solos
for soprano and tenor, and what is claimed to be the first ever recording
of Nielsen's alternative version in which the singers are replaced by clarinet
and trombone. An interesting comparison - but I found the vocal version to
be much more atmospheric than the instrumental version. (This is placed after
the finale: incidentally, its timing is incorrectly given as 1:19 instead
of 9:16)
Bostock also delivers a wonderfully paced and shaped account of
Helios, Nielsen's distinctive portrait of a high summer's day in Athens.
His magisterial grasp of the musical argument is crowned by closing bars
of exquisite repose. The two brief songs make agreeable 'fillers', but I'm
less impressed by the Nearer My God to thee paraphrase, a short piece
occasioned by the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The hymn
was reputedly the last piece to be played by the band as the ship sank. The
paraphrase was not performed until 1915, after which the parts were lost.
What we hear is a reconstruction by Knud Ketting from the composer's short
score. Nielsen is said to have become ashamed of this piece - and it's not
difficult to see why: it is rather crudely programmatic and of little substance.
But no Nielsen devotee should miss these accounts of the symphony and
Helios which are superbly played and recorded.
Adrian Smith
