No single CD that includes Nielsen’s seven-movement Aladdin Suite – the Danish rival to Grieg’s Peer Gynt for atmosphere and tunefulness – can hope to accommodate the rest of his smaller orchestral works as well. This new Naxos disc omits the early Symphonic Rhapsody – Nielsen’s abortive First Symphony, as heard on Gennadi Rozhdestvensky’s survey for Chandos (9/94) – and the much later Rhapsodic Overture: A Fantasy Journey to the Faroes, which both Rozhdestvensky and Neeme Järvi (DG, 9/96) include, as well the various string orchestra pieces.

What it offers instead, albeit unannounced on the front cover, is the overture to the incidental music for Amor and the Poet, a small commemorative piece commissioned by the Odense Theatre for Hans Christian Andersen’s 125th anniversary in 1930. After a deceptively charming opening the Overture, built from offcuts of some of Nielsen’s toughest late scores, packs a surprising punch. Though by no means as concentrated and freshly inventive a masterpiece as Pan and Syrinx, and not a premiere recording, its appearance here alongside relatively popular works is more than welcome.

All the performances are blessed, unsurprisingly, with a natural grasp of the Nielsen idiom, and Niklas Willén plots a perceptive course through the obstacle-strewn channels of Saga-Drøm and Pan and Syrinx. Admittedly the more conventionally poetic Helios overture moves forward rather unceremoniously; but far better that than Rozhdestvensky’s interminable trudge.

Only in the ‘Negro Dance’ from Aladdin does Willén force the pace unduly. His orchestra cannot match Järvi’s Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for panache, refinement and fullness of string tone, especially in Helios. But at a fraction of the price, the new disc is still commendable to anyone looking for a reliable and cheap way into this wonderful repertoire.