Blomstedt's first cycle was, admittedly, rather faceless, but the SFSO cycle for Decca was spectacular. In fact, I would argue that once it came out, it supplanted Schmidt as the "Recording de'refereeeennnce". But yes, I have the Schmidt on Unicorn CDs, and I will never part with it.
I saw Ole Schmidt conduct a performance of Havergal Brian's "Gothic" Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall in 1980 (evidently Schmidt was encouraged by famed Nielsen and Brian advocate Robert Simpson) - it was a terrific event, and I marvelled at the sheer audacity of Brian's aural imagery. Maestro Schmidt may have been little known generally, but he nonetheless left behind a fine legacy of which we should be thankful.
Yes! Wildly underrated and inexpensive too! The music is just uncontrollable great on this recording! Completely agree, thanks. Ole Schmidt was a great conductor. His Hakon Børreson symphony recordings on CPO from 1997, is it, is also wildly interesting and underrated great music. Børreson’s symphony no. 3, 1 movement. Great music too! It all is and in great hands with Ole Schmidt
Thanks for the intro to Nielsen. Got hold of, and listening to the seemingly ‘newly’ released cycle with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra + Fabio Luis. Very enjoyable (to me)..
Thanks for this! Nielsen is one of the greatest symphonists of all time. More people need to listen and realize this. Such a fresh, highly individual voice.
A great reference set. I was pleasantly surprised with the recent cycle from NY with Alan Gilbert conducting. His tenure there was remarkable for being quite unremarkable but that is such a strong set of great playing and sound across the symphonies and concertos.
Way back in the sixties I worked 14 hour shifts for 6 days for 6 weeks and bought a reel to reel tape recorder with the proceeds. Good classical vinyl was so expensive. So i taped from the radio. But one night i got my timings wrong for a Sibelius concert and ended up with this guy Nielsen's 4th. Well, i was blown away. I played it over repeatedly until the taped stretched and i had the slowest 4th in Christendom ( poor quality tape). But I got a used vinyl copy very soon after, the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by somebody and then I heard it at the somewhat composer's speed. Within 2 years I had all 6 symphs on vinyl. Nielsen for me is a master of the sagging chord... a bluesy feel to his work. If i didn’t know he was Danish, I think he was American. Is there anything in the European rep more bluesy than the slow movement of the 4 Temperaments?
It's been years since I've heard the Cincinnati Nielsen 4th. The conductor was Max Rudolf, and it was on American Decca. It's never been reissued on CD to my knowledge. I was similarly introduced to Nielsen by the 4th, but it was the Igor Markevitch recording on Turnabout (I was on a student budget at the time). As for the Ole Schmidt set, I have it and have enjoyed it a lot over the years, I learned the symphonies from it and from the individual recordings by Bernstein (3 & 5), Previn, (1), M Gould (2), Markevitch (4), and Ormandy (1 & 6). Today I tend to reach for the Blomstedt San Francisco cycle most of the time when I want a Nielsen symphony.
As a young collector, my introduction to Nielsen was not prompted by what I had heard. It was what I read. Looking through the bins of LPs I came across "The Inextinguishable" in the Martinon recording. I took it home, put it on the turntable, and I was hooked. I recorded it on my reel to reel tape deck so as not to wear out the LP. From then on, I had to have anything Nielsen.
My introduction to Nielsen’s symphonies was Previn’s recording of the lst with the L.S.O. I really liked it but for some unknown reason didn’t bother to investigate the others until much later when I heard a great live performance of the 4th. and I was hooked on his music. One of the greatest symphonic composers without a doubt.
The EMI recordings of Herbert Blomstedt with the Danish RSO I still have on LP (SQ Quadraphonic). They also have the concertos and the most important tone poems. I remember the set was prohibitively expensive, but I finally succombed. At the the same time I bought Robert Simpson's book on the Nielsen symphonies. Now I certainly must listen to this edition too.
I loved this set too! Little story here. I remember it well. Because as a seventeen year old, I couldn't afford it. I was saving for a Realistic (Radio Shack. I still miss them.) Quadraphonic Receiver and the four Speakers. Many newspaper deliveries later, I bought the receiver and speakers. I never purchased this set, and have regretted it ever since.
Muscularity is the key word. I think the fourth symphony of Nielsen is one of the greatest of the 20th century. I’ve known about this set since the 1970s and have various recordings of Nielsen but not this. Last year, however, I saw it in the shop and bought it, and I really did feel that I was buying a piece of recording history. I actually heard the symphony in a live performance in the 1970s when I was still at school. I can’t remember what the marvellous timpanists of the (Royal) Scottish National Orchestra (one being Pamela Dow) did but whenever I hear it or see it on RU-vid, I always hope that in the final timpani thwacks, the player will use both sticks for each stroke. Scotland had a good tradition of Nielsen, thanks to Sir Alexander Gibson, tireless supporter of the Scandinavians.
Ole Schmidt conducted the first concert I ever saw (Symphonie fantastique!). He was the "principal guest conductor" of my local orchestra when I was in high school. I saw him give many concerts. The first time I heard Nielsen I was 17 when Schmidt conducted Symphony 2. I was instantly hooked! I still love this Schmidt set of Nielsen Symphonies. It's all so good, except the first movement of Symphony 3 is a letdown. But I think a lot of times that movement is underwhelming, the new Edward Gardner recording is a case in point. It seems to be like Mahler 5 or Brahms 3, that symphony that most conductors screw up!
Discovered Nielsen through Blomstedt. Though Nielsen does they do not move me like Beethoven or Brahms, they are fascinating works, Nordic in character without being austere, the long winter nights do yield to long summer days, after all!
Wonderful recordings - snapped them up when they were briefly on Regis. Nice call out for Kuchar set though - what a fantastic conductor. Shouldn't he have been made the principal conductor of the Concertgebouw or Chicago?
Interested to hear your reaction to Ed Gardner's 3rd. I think you liked his 4th. It's my impression that Gardner is the cream of the current Chandos crop of conductors.
I wholeheartedly recommend Ole Schmidt and the LSO in these great symphonies of Nielsen. I tend to prefer a dryer sound than what we normally hear in orchestral recordings. Oh there's reverb here - just the "right" amount. The recording is a bit bright from a bump in the upper midrange, however, but it's not a real blemish. Any remastering worth its salt would have re-equalized this. If so, the sonics will be splendid. The interpretation is vibrant and energetic; still my favorite set by a longshot.
Dave, what about doing the recommended recordings for Schnittke’s and Myaskovsky’s symphonies? Understand that there are few complete cycles, but still there are some delightful individual choices
I LOVE this drunken cycle. There not many I truly like; not until the NYPhil cycle anyway. But I always come back to Schmidt. (Incidentally, the comparison to Sibelius which I invariably made, kept me from appreciating Nielsen. It was only when I came to him from a Martinu-mindset that I 'got' them.)
Dave, I absolutely love Nielsen's symphonies. It all started with an LP of the third and went on from there. You also mentioned Robert Simpson, I have his book on Nielsen. But he was also a composer of symphonies and string quartets which were all recorded on Hyperion. In my teens I was quite taken by his third, which I had on a cassette tape in the recording of Jasha Horenstein. Any chance of you doing a talk on some of his music? I did a quick search and didn't find any yet. Anyway, thanks for all your marvellous content, both inspiring and entertaining!
