Nielsen New
Symphonies -- No. 1 in G minor, FS16; No. 6, FS116, 'Sinfonia semplice'.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä.
BIS CD1079 (full price, 1 hour 10 minutes). Recorded with support from the BBC Scottish Symphony Club. Producer Robert Suff. Engineer Ingo Petry. Date August 2000, August 1999.
Comparisons:
San Francisco SO/Blomstedt
(Decca) 443 117-2 (three discs)
Danish Nat RSO/Schønwandt (Dacapo) 8.224169
Another Nielsen cycle begins, and as with his Sibelius recordings for the same label, Osmo Vänskä is clearly determined that it will be no routine affair. For the most part this is very much to the good, especially in the notoriously tricky Sinfonia semplice. Here the first movement is a notch faster than usual, which immediately puts the orchestra on their mettle -- as if the score were not demanding enough already. For a while it seems that his aim may be to highlight Classical momentum rather than psychological drama. And when
the later phases are unable to sustain this, there is room for doubting the wisdom of the approach. There again, failure to sustain the symphony's opening simplistic premise is precisely what this movement is about, and the painful climaxes lack neither musical nor dramatic motivation. The caustic second movement is entirely convincing, with the trombone smearing its glissandos across the score like so many acid burns. The proposta seria hangs torpidly in the air, and the carnivalesque final Theme and Variations is as strongly and effectively pressurized as
the first movement. No dangers are ducked, no safe options taken, the treacherous string writing is firmly in place and the percussion are outstanding. All in all, this is a reading to place almost on a par with the more monumental Blomstedt, and probably ahead of the safer and less characterfully played Schønwandt.
However, the First Symphony is not so recommendable. Although there are splendid things in all four movements, Vänskä lets the lyrical writing stretch to the point where it loses its elasticity, and he then has to play surreptitious catch-up. The second movement, though admirably affectionate, becomes more of an Adagio than an Andante, the Scherzo has a most unnatural-sounding structural join from 4'38", and the final coda ends excitingly but without organic connection to the rest of the finale. Here Schønwandt and Blomstedt are much to be preferred.
Recording quality is bright and immediate, and the booklet essay by Knud Ketting is a cut or two above average.
used by permission
