Nielsen: String Quartet No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 14 (FS23)

Nielsen composed most of his wind chamber music towards the latter part of his career, when his interests moved from strings to wind instruments. The disc includes the most familiar and widely recorded specimen of Nielsen’s chamber writing, the 1922 Wind Quintet, coupled with lesser known works such as Serenata in Vano, Two Fantasies Op.2 and Canto Serioso. “Both major and minor works are wonderfully played… One can urge immediate acquisition of this disc,” wrote Fanfare. Although, now longer performing publicly, the Athena Ensemble had an excellent career and reputation, “The music is expertly performed with charm, sensitivity and imagination by the Athena Ensemble” said Classic CD (on the Elgar Wind Quintet recording, CHAN 241-33) and this disc is sure to remind listeners of their back catalogue with Chandos.

Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) took Danish music into the 20th century, and his chamber music holds a prominent position in the international repertoire. Following on from the immensely successful first volume released last year (which won an Editor’s Choice and was nominated for a Gramophone Award), Dacapo are delighted to present the second volume. The String Quartet in F minor was first performed during the young composer’s visit to Berlin in 1890 and was admired by the most influential musical personalities of the time. The E flat major quartet was published in Copenhagen ten years later with a dedication to Edvard Grieg.

This is the first complete collection of Carl Nielsen’s masterly chamber works available on CD. Here all the String Quartets, Violin Sonatas and Works for Wind appear in definitive recordings by top young Danish musicians. The piano works are played in unique fashion by Herman D. Koppel, who as a young man rehearsed them all with the composer himself.

This unique collection consists of prizewinning recordings by the Danish String Quartet, which has preserved the authentic playing style since Carl Nielsen’s time. Packaged in a clamshell box.