Two new Nielsen symphony cycles are here inaugurated, and each one is cause for some excitement. Douglas Bostock has been making a name for himself with rare British symphonies on the Classico label. Now he shows himself to have fine instincts as a Nielsenite, and such is the elan of the Liverpool playing you'd hardly guess that this is virtually unexplored territory for them. They are also the first to use the new Danish critical edition of the Fifth Symphony. This reinstates many features of the original score, such as the ungainly but highly characterful brass counterpoints in the second movement's fast fugue. Others such as Andrew Davis on Virgin Classics (4/91 - nla) have admittedly taken some of these into account, and Nielsen-lovers may actually be disappointed at the loss of some 'effective' details in the familiar posthumous revision, rather perceptively carried out by Erik Tuxen and Emil Telmanyi. But the value of Classico's enterprise in documentary terms is unquestionable. Bostock also uses the new edition of the Second Symphony, but this has less perceptible impact on the sound of the music.
Drawbacks with the Liverpool recordings mainly concern the balance, which softens the impact of Nielsen's all-important side drum and timpani and also suggests a certain thinness in the strings. This undoes much of Bostock's excellent work with the pacing of the Fifth Symphony and sends you back to classic versions such as Bernstein's (using the revised version, of course) with renewed appreciation. Comparison with the new Danish performance of the Second Symphony is also striking, because Michael Schonwandt draws a weight of attack and a passionate eloquence from his strings such as I have simply never heard from a Danish orchestra before now, while the Dacapo recording has greatly superior depth and impact. This opens up possibilities for the dramatic profile of the work that are not even glimpsed by the Liverpudlians, while in the slow movement of the Espansiva even the rival San Francisco version, until now a clear top recommendation for this coupling, sounds bland by comparison.
In The four temperaments Bostock outpaces both Schonwandt and, by a whisker, Blomstedt - to quite superb effect in the choleric first movement. He also teases out many persuasive details, suggesting a careful study of the new edition, alongside a few moments which slightly smack to me of special pleading. Schonwandt scores high on detailed initiatives, too, and his less headlong approach yields its own rewards: he brings a wonderful galumphing recklessness to the central waltz of the Espansiva first movement, for instance. As to his slowish tempo for the main finale theme, I have more doubts. Maybe Nielsen's original pomposo marking, later suppressed, is the justification here, but at each appearance it necessitates shifts of gear which Blomstedt more effectively does without. Honours are even between the respective pairs of vocal soloists in the slow movement (word has it that when Bostock gets round to the Espansiva he will be offering in addition the first recording of the alternative instrumental version).
Without dislodging the above-listed recommendations then, each new issue has fascinating new insights and holds out excellent promise for future instalments.'