Carl Nielsen: Top 20 Recordings
Monday, June 24, 2024
Featuring outstanding recordings of Nielsen's music by Leonard Bernstein, Vilde Frang, Fabio Luisi, Sharon Bezaly, Johan Dalene and more
Reducing a century of Nielsen recordings to a list of just 20 that everyone can agree on is impossible, but each of the recordings below says something distinctive and beautiful about Nielsen's music, and each should be seen as a leaping-off point for further investigation and fresh discoveries.
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Symphonies Nos 1 & 2
Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard (Seattle Symphony Media)
‘Fresh, fascinating but not uncontroversial accounts, which is just what this neglected early Nielsen needs.’ Andrew Mellor (November 2020)
Symphonies Nos 1 & 3
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (DG)
‘Like Bernstein (who, I’d say, is trumped here), Luisi revels in the gaudiness of the hip-swaying waltz theme as it spins into the climax with descanting horns quite unapologetic of their (vulgar) abandon. And then the magic casements opening to enchanted horizons in the slow movement with its wordless chanting of two solo voices (Fatma Said and Palle Knudsen).’ Edward Seckerson (February 2023)
Symphonies Nos 2 & 3
San Francisco Symphony / Herbert Blomstedt
Gramophone Orchestral Award 1991
‘It is perhaps hazardous to say so on the strength of one hearing (the disc arrived as we go to press), but Blomstedt's account of both works strikes me as by far the most satisfying to have appeared for years and brings added lustre to a distinguished cycle.’ Robert Layton (August 1990)
Symphony No 3
New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert (Dacapo)
‘This recording has just about everything that all the better Nielsen recordings have, but with an extra-thoughtful use of orchestral colour – something that could perhaps only be accomplished by musicians from a world-class orchestra.’ David Patrick Stearns (March 2015)
Gramophone Collection – Top Choice
Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (DG)
Gramophone Recording of the Year 2023
‘Make no mistake, this is right up there with Bernstein’s New York version (Sony, 5/63), and like Bernstein Luisi and his band are more than mindful of American connotations with the rugged terrain of this music and the jazziness and bluesyness of the solo clarinet-writing. The coda of the finale could almost be Copland and my goodness does Luisi make capital of the peeling horns which ring out in triumph.’ Edward Seckerson (February 2023)
Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis (LSO Live)
‘From the tense apathy of the opening to the anxious triumph of the ending, Davis shows a remarkable instinct for the paradoxical complexity of the moment in Nielsen, as well as for the broader trajectory of his musical thinking.’ David Fanning (April 2011)
Symphony No 5
New York Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein (Sony)
‘For sheer incandescence, no one has surpassed Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1962. With a lethal side drum and hurtling tempos in the second movement, Bernstein takes huge risks, capturing Nielsen’s sense of adventure and exhilarating discovery to the full.’ David Fanning (February 2019)
Gramophone Collection – Top Choice
Symphonies Nos 2 & 6
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (DG)
‘I wonder if Nielsen envisaged his symphonic canon signing off with another raspberry – this time from a solo bassoon? At any rate it had to end somehow, right? And I’m going to end by sticking my neck out and saying that this cycle is spiritually and sonically the best we’ve yet had on record.’ Edward Seckerson (March 2023)
Violin Concerto
Vilde Frang vn Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Eivind Gullberg Jensen (Warner Classics)
‘Vilde Frang offers a wider range of moods and colours than her rivals; in more holistic terms, she sounds at one with the concerto’s mood of rapture, impetuosity and fun.’ Andrew Mellor (May 2019)
Gramophone Collection – Top Choice
Violin Concerto
Johan Dalene vn Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds (BIS Records)
‘Somehow, Dalene always sounds like himself – in his distinctive, delicious and very present savoury tone (never revelled in for its own sake) and in his ability to fix a point on a horizon and play, unhurriedly and with a sense of purity, towards that point.’ Andrew Mellor (April 2022)
Orchestral Music
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard (Dacapo)
‘Given playing of such finesse and bite (one virtually takes idiomatic understanding for granted) they all feel like gems in their own right.’ David Fanning (April 2007)
Flute Concerto
Sharon Bezaly fl Residentie Orkest Den Haag / Neeme Järvi (BIS Records)
‘The concerto that Nielsen wrote in 1926 merits the supreme artistry that Sharon Bezaly brings to it, both in terms of deft, discerningly harnessed virtuosity and in her supple, sinuous shaping of the music.’ Geoffrey Norris (November 2013)
Clarinet Concerto
Martin Fröst cl Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä (BIS Records)
‘He seems to have Nielsen’s irascible masterpiece in his bloodstream, as surely as he has its technical contortions under his fingers. Vänskä ensures that the Lahti players are never fazed by the exposed edges in the accompaniment.’ David Fanning (May 2007)
String Quartets Nos 1 & 4. String Quintet
Young Danish String Quartet; Tim Frederiksen va (Dacapo)
‘The new Quartet, all in their early twenties, bring a freshness and energy plus a level of sheer accomplishment that I don’t ever remember hearing in these works. Far from defensiveness or special pleading, they simply assume that they are playing high quality music and that their job is therefore to give it their all. The results are joyous, effervescent.’ David Fanning (July 2007)
Chamber Music, Vol 2
The Violin Sonatas and works for Solo Violin
Jon Gjesme vn Jens Elvekjær pf Tue Lautrop vn (Dacapo)
‘All three artists on this fine new release play with a firm grasp of the idiom and a relish for the adventurous and wilful spirit that animates it. They also appreciate the direction of the ideas, even when Nielsen makes it hard to keep the thread.’ David Fanning (October 2008)
Complete Works for A Cappella Choir
Canzone Choir / Frans Rasmussen (Danacord)
‘Nielsen marinated his early ideas for these choral works in the structural language of Palestrina, creating stark, bracing and rigorous manifestos for his late stylistic turn to polyphony. Technically challenging and uncompromisingly Nielsenite.’ Andrew Mellor (September 2011)
Songs for Choir
Ars Nova Copenhagen / Michael Bojesen (Dacapo)
‘It’s open-throated singing that befits the direct intent of the tunes and their typically angular harmonies. Basses take care to tune the downward-stepping bass-lines that can be many a choir’s undoing, while the beautiful tapering of phrase-endings nicely serves the harmonic spice with which Nielsen often twists his stanzas to a close.’ Andrew Mellor (June 2015)
The Mother
Palle Knudsen, Adam Riis; Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Philharmonic Choir, Odense Symphony Orchestra / Andreas Delfs (Dacapo)
‘It is easy to surrender to the performance itself, which has all the undemonstrative command of the idiom that we would expect from the main orchestra of the composer’s native island, and there are characterful contributions from all the vocal and instrumental soloists.’ David Fanning (September 2020)
Maskarade
Monika Buczkowska, Susan Bullock, Michael Porter, Liviu Holender, Alfred Reiter; Chor der Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumorchester / Titus Engel (Naxos)
‘So what do we get? Vivid and absolutely text-led performances all round with a highly convincing and genuinely young/fashionable Leander and Leonora pairing (the warm and lyrical Michael Porter and the bright and agile Monika Buczkowska), with a very fine Henrik (Liviu Holender) and Arv (Samuel Levine) but a Jeronimus and Magdelone from Alfred Reiter and Susan Bullock who come close to stealing the show – down to their individual performances, yes, but also the clarity and comedy with which they are directed.’ Andrew Mellor (July 2024)
Saul & David
Johan Reuter, Ann Petersen, Morten Staugaard, Susanne Resmark, Niels-Jorgen Riis; The Royal Danish Orchestra & The Royal Danish Opera Chorus / Michael Schønwandt (Dacapo)
‘Orchestra and conductor unroll their home composer’s score with richness and dexterity.’ Mike Ashman (March 2016)
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