Carl
Nielsen (1865 - 1931)
Symphony
No.4, Op. 29
"The
Inextinguishable" Symphony No.5, Op. 50
A leading
influence on Scandinavian music of the present century, the Danish composer Carl Nielsen
was born in 1865, the son of a painter and village musician, in whose band he had his
earliest musical experience playing the violin. In 1879, after learning to play the
cornet, he joined a military orchestra at Odense and by 1884 had been able, with the help
of sponsors, to enter the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen as a student of violin,
piano and theory. After graduation in 1886 his compositions began to win a hearing, with a
significant success in 1888 for his Opus 1
Little Suite for strings. The following year he became a violinist in the royal chapel,
broadening still further his musical experience and in particular his knowledge of the
music of Wagner, a subject of his serious study in Germany in 1890. Here he began the
first of his six symphonies, completed in 1892. His work as a player in the royal chapel
continued until 1905, followed by a growing demand for his services as a conductor,
particularly of his own works, while a state pension allowed him to turn from teaching, a
hitherto necessary means of survival, to concentrate on composition. His Second Symphony, The Four Temperaments, completed in 1902, characterizes
the four humours of early medical theory. A third symphony, the Sinfonia Espansiva, followed in 1911, three years
after his appointment as conductor at the Royal Theatre, a position he held until 1914.
The Fourth Symphony, The Inextinguishable, was finished in 1916, to be followed in 1922 by
the Fifth. The last of the six was completed in 1925, six years before Nielsen's death in
Copenhagen in 1931.
Nielsen's
work as a composer includes two operas and a number of orchestral works beside the
symphonies, with concertos for violin and for clarinet. To choral works and songs may be
added three published string quartets, a wind quintet and three violin sonatas, as well as
a relatively small amount of music for the piano, an instrument that he had first taught
himself as a young bandsman. His musical language, as demonstrated in the symphonies, is
idiosyncratic and individual, essentially tonal, but covering an extended range of keys
within a tonal system, with a cogent use of rhythms that adds impetus to an idiom that is,
in some ways, a reaction against romanticism, while extending post-romantic harmonic,
melodic and rhythmic vocabulary.
The title
of the Fourth Symphony, Det Uudslukkelige,
The Inextinguishable, was chosen to express what Nielsen saw as the elemental Will of
Life, explaining that Music, like Life, is inextinguishable, an indication of the right
approach to the work rather than of the presence of any programmatic element. The symphony
is scored for triple woodwind, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, strings
and timpani, with two sets of the last, placed opposite each other, the second at the side
of the orchestra and near the audience. The first of the four movements, linked one to the
other, opens forcefully with some ambiguity of key and mode. All grows quieter with a
passage for solo cello and .the three flutes, followed by the three clarinets, leading, by
ascending scales from violas and muted second violins, to a passage marked risoluto e
giusto in which strings and woodwind happily join. These nevertheless continue the
harmonic ambiguity and instability of what has so far transpired, in a symphony that
apparently opens in D minor/major but ends in E major, the tonality at which it aims. An
exultant passage for full orchestra, marked pesante e glorioso is followed by the
introduction of a new rhythmic element, a leaping figure heard first from the flute. The
music continues in what is broadly traditional tripartite form, with are turn of the first
material to mark the beginning of a triumphant recapitulation section, diminishing into a
delightful G major Allegretto interlude for the woodwind band. The violins introduce a
third movement with a strong and finely moulded melodic line, seemingly striving towards
the key of E major. This strongly felt and intense music is joined to the final movement
by a rapid change of mood, as the strings, con anima, come to a sudden rest, before the
last Allegro, a movement of struggle and conflict, elements to which the timpani make a
particular contribution. These opposing forces are finally resolved, proclaiming music and
the will to life as inextinguishable, although contemporary events in Europe might too
easily have suggested only despair.
Carl
Nielsen's Fifth Symphony is scored for
piccolo, pairs of woodwind instruments, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and
tuba, a percussion section of cymbals, triangle, tambourine, side drum, timpani and
celesta, and strings. It was the particular use of the side drum that caused some
consternation among earlier audiences, in particular at the first performance of the
symphony in Sweden in 1924, when there were those who chose to take refuge outside the
concert hall. The work is in two movements. The first, marked Tempo giusto, is opened by
the violas with an oscillating accompanying figure to which the bassoons add their own
curious melody, echoed by horns and flutes. Again there is harmonic ambiguity. A muted
long-drawn violin melody appears, accompanied by the rest of the strings, swelling in
importance, as the cellos add a sinister threat to its progress. This menacing mood is
accentuated by a new violin theme, prefaced by the side drum and accompanied by the
marching rhythm of timpani and plucked lower strings, with the side drum continuing its
insistent rhythm. The sinister suggestions of the music are replaced by a G major Adagio,
with horns and bassoons joined by divided violas and cellos and swelling to a climax,
before the side drum again intrudes with an unsettling element, already suggested by the
changing inflexions of the melodic line. The movement ends quietly with a clarinet
cadenza, as the side drum fades into the distance. While the second movement will
eventually resolve any conflict, it opens with a thematic element in which the interval of
a fourth is prominent, with a subsidiary oboe theme offering greater tranquillity. There
are again disputes of tonality, in particular in an insistent passage between woodwind and
violins, leading to a fugal F minor Presto, introduced by the first violins and
interrupted by the timpani and wind. A curious descending section for the flute leads to
another fugal passage, marked Andante un poco tranquillo, its subject derived from the
opening melody of the movement. In a final section, in which the two important thematic
elements from earlier in the movement re-appear, any conflict is finally resolved into a
positive E fiat major.
National
Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
The RTE
Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1947 as part of the Radio and Television service in
Ireland. With its membership coming from France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Hungary, Poland
and Russia, it drew together a rich blend of European culture. Apart from its many
symphony concerts, the orchestra came to world-wide attention with its participation in
the famous Wexford Opera Festival, an event broadcast in many parts of the world. The
orchestra now enjoys the facilities of a fine new concert hall in central Dublin, where it
performs with the world's leading conductors and soloists. In 1990 the RTE Symphony
Orchestra was augmented and renamed the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Under its
Principal Conductor, George Hurst, it quickly established itself as one of Europe's most
adventurous orchestras with programmes featuring many 20th century compositions. The
orchestra has now embarked upon an extensive recording project for the Naxos and Marco
Polo labels and will record music by Nielsen, Tchaikovsky, Goldmark, Rachmaninov, Brian
and Scriabin.
Adrian
Leaper
Adrian
Leaper was appointed Assistant Conductor to Stanislaw Skrowaczewski of the Hallé
Orchestra in 1986, and has since then enjoyed an increasingly busy career, with
engagements at home and throughout Europe. Born in 1953, Adrian Leaper studied at the
Royal Academy of Music and was for a number of years co-principal French horn in the
Philharmonia Orchestra, before turning his attention exclusively to conducting. He has
been closely involved with the Naxos and Marco Polo labels and has been consequently
instrumental in introducing elements of English repertoire to Eastern Europe. His numerous
recordings include a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies for Naxos, and Havergal Brian's
Symphony No.4 ("Das Siegeslied")
for Marco Polo.