Composer: Carl August Nielsen
Performer: James Ehnes
Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHSA5311
Release: 2023
Size: 1.12 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Violin Concerto, Op. 33 (FS61)
01. Ia. Praeludium
02. Ib. Allegro cavalleresco
03. IIa. Poco Adagio
04. IIb. Rondo
Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 (FS76) ‘The Inextinguishable’
05. I. Allegro
06. II. A tempo (Poco allegretto)
07. III. Poco Adagio
08. IV. Allegro
Nielsen’s epic Violin Concerto was premiered in Copenhagen in February 1912, by violinist Peder Moller. Nominally the work is set in two movements; both open with a slow section and move to a faster one. Whilst unusual, this could be seen as a more usual fast – slow – fast three movement form, but with an extensive slow introduction to the first movement. The music moves quickly from one idea to the next, and overall has a bold, playful and optimistic feel. In stark contrast, although written only a few years later, the fourth symphony is more cohesive and unified as a work. Written against the background of the first world war, the work is a celebration of life itself. Just before the premier in 1916, Nielsen described it as: ‘Music is Life, and, like it, inextinguishable.’ Composed in the usual four movement form, each movement continues from the last without a break. The final movement features two sets of timpani battling each other across the orchestra. The recording was made in Bergen’s Grieghallen, in Surround Sound, and is available as a hybrid SACD and in Spatial Audio
The partnership of Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic has produced strong results in recordings of music from Scandinavia and beyond, with superb engineering from the Grieghalle in Bergen and a clean string sound that can stand with any in Europe. Those virtues are apparent on this release of music by Carl Nielsen, but there is a bonus: violinist James Ehnes turns in a rigorous performance of Nielsen’s Violin Concerto, Op. 33, that is absolutely delightful. The Violin Concerto was written just a few years before the Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 (“Inextinguishable”), but it is a very different kind of work, closer to Nielsen’s light-spirited theater music than to the symphony, but still with full-scale structural contrasts between violin and orchestra. Ehnes brings pinpoint accuracy and crackling humor to the work; listeners can sample the final rondo for an idea. The Symphony No. 4 is also very strong, with somewhat slow tempos opening up a lot of carefully traced detail but a strong pulse from Gardner holding everything together. A wonderful Nielsen release.