Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

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[Davis] matches Herbert Blomstedt when it comes to grandeur and sense of the long evolving line, and yet the music also seems to fluid and changeable, and alive on so many levels. Full marks... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 10th Jan 2011
Catalogue No: LSO0694
Label: LSO Live
Series: Sir Colin Davis Complete Nielsen Symphonies
Length: 66 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

10th January 2011
BBC Music Magazine

March 2011

Orchestral Choice
Gramophone Magazine

April 2011

Editor's Choice

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 (FS76) 'The Inextinguishable'

Work length31:19

$5.85

$7.15

$8.80

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis

I. Allegro

Track length9:56

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

II. Poco allegretto

Track length4:31

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Poco adagio quasi andante

Track length8:36

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

IV. Allegro

Track length8:16

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Nielsen: Symphony No. 5, Op. 50 (FS97)

Work length35:16

$5.35

$6.50

$8.00

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis

I. Tempo giusto

Track length10:40

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

II. Adagio

Track length10:16

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

III. Allegro

Track length14:20

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

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Recording of the Week, Nielsen Symphonies from Colin Davis and the LSO

10th January 2011

At the grand old age of 83, the British conductor ventures into new territory by embarking on a complete cycle of symphonies by the Danish, whose music he has only rarely conducted in the course of his long and illustrious career.

DSD recording, live at the Barbican October 2009 (Symphony No 5) and May 2009 (Symphony No 4).

Despite having been an admirer of the music of Danish composer Carl Nielsen for many years, Sir Colin Davis has rarely conducted any of his works. Now, at the age of 83, Sir Colin embarks on a complete cycle of the composer’s symphonies.

Although Carl Nielsen is frequently compared to his near contemporary Jean Sibelius, each composer’s music is equally individual. Both were celebrated symphonists but used the potential of an orchestra in different ways. Despite giving titles to the majority of his symphonies, Nielsen was often vague about the specific themes for each work. However his music is always direct, dynamic and lyrical.

Sir Colin’s traversal of the symphonies began in concert in 2009. He will conduct the remaining symphonies in 2011 with two further LSO Live releases following in 2012.

Concert reviews:

“Nielsen’s music could have been written for the LSO: the orchestra’s robust sound and free-spirited temperament suit this symphony’s virtuoso demands and visceral dynamism.

Davis, too, is attuned to Nielsen’s brand of Beethovenian conflict. Davis conducted it with the vitality of someone worthy of the symphony’s title, the ‘Inextinguishable’” Financial Times

“this account of the “Inextinguishable” confirmed he and the LSO have something special to offer … he produced an account of fabulous coherence” The Guardian

“Forget old dogs and new tricks, clearly it’s never too late to embark upon a new repertoire strand … this was an auspicious start. I reckon the maestro shed 40 years during this performance” The Independent

Reviews

March 2011

[Davis] matches Herbert Blomstedt when it comes to grandeur and sense of the long evolving line, and yet the music also seems to fluid and changeable, and alive on so many levels. Full marks to Davis, too, sustaining the momentum through the finale's Adagio fugue in No. 5...Credit too for using the new critical editions of both scores.

April 2011

Both these interpretations, recorded live at the Barbican, surge along with the full-throated splendour that is a London Symphony Orchestra trademark. In the magnificent Fifth Symphony...Davis's control of pace unfolds a performance of wonderful, unexaggerated drama and humanity, as fine as any I've heard.

April 2011

At last! Nielsen's two best-known symphonies in modern performances with real fire in their belly...[Davis] brings such animal excitement to the task, such a thrilling sense of discovery and existential danger...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.

March 2011

This is music in which the creative act is no longer a virtue but a necessity, and it is this unequivocal aspect Davis conveys in a performance which maintains onward drive at all costs...With forward yet sonorous SACD sound that is among the best that LSO Live has yet achieved, this disc bodes well for the rest of Davis's Nielsen cycle over the coming year.

13th January 2011

Nielsen's last two symphonies form a response to the first world war and its aftermath...Their uncompromising nature is often fearfully enhanced in this pair of hard-hitting live performances from Colin Davis and the LSO...The playing and recording are both exemplary

4th February 2011

Nielsen is still not part of the regular concert-hall repertoire in Britain, but if anything could persuade you that he should be, it’s these vivid and dramatic performances... The London Symphony Orchestra rises to the challenges magnificently, throwing contrasts into high relief, and punching out the rhythms on brass and percussion. Colin Davis conducts expertly.

Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

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Recording of the Week, Nielsen Symphonies from Colin Davis and the LSO

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