大象传媒

Donald Macleod surveys Nielsen鈥檚 postwar years including his Wind Quintet and Fourth Symphony.

You鈥檒l find a clue as to Carl Nielsen鈥檚 character in any number of photographs that show him smiling; they include snaps of him taken as a young man in which he鈥檚 cheekily pulling funny faces for the camera. They鈥檙e far removed from the formal portraiture one might expect of Denmark鈥檚 foremost composer. As well as a good sense of humour, these unselfconscious poses reveal an open, inquisitive fascination with the world around him. Looking back at his life in 1925, at the age of 60, Nielsen recognised this trait in himself. 鈥淔rom my childhood鈥�, he wrote, 鈥淚 have been full of an oddly intense curiosity which has made me see something interesting in every human creature.鈥� His talent for observation acted as a powerful stimulus to Nielsen鈥檚 musical mind.

Across the week Donald explores how the world around him fed into Nielsen鈥檚 music. Excerpts from five of his symphonies reveal some of his most profound thinking on life, while his major choral works Hymnus Amoris and Springtime in Funen - which directly relate to his rural childhood - show a more personal side of his character. Ever the keen observer, there鈥檚 comedy and drama and even a musical portrait of chickens to be found in his operas.

From 1920 onwards the growing popularity of Nielsen鈥檚 music abroad presented him with opportunities to travel, including a rather eventful trip to London.

Graeshoppen
Canzone Choir
Frans Rasmussen, director

Wind Quintet: (1: Allegro ben moderato)
Wind Quintet of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Pan og Syrinx, Op.49
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

Sonata for violin and piano no 2, Op.35 (2: molto adagio)
Jon Gjesme, violin
Jens Elvekjaer, piano

Maskarade (excerpt from Act 2)
Henriette Bonde-Hansen, soprano, Leonora
Gert-Henning Jensen, tenor, Leander
Marianne R酶rholm, mezzo soprano, Pernille
Bo Skovhus, baritone, Henrik
The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ulf Schirmer, conductor

Symphony No.4 (1: Allegro)
San Francisco Symphony
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor