Search - Jorma Hynninen, Carl Nielsen, Neeme Järvi :: Nielsen: Complete Symphonies

Jarvi doesn't find the depths of this music, but the surface

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This cycle of Nielsen symphonies is a partial crossover from the Bis label, not a remake. The connection with Bis assures that the sonics given to the Gothenburg Sym. will be excellent, and the clarity of the wind playing, the inner detail and clean dynamics are a big plus. Jarvi isn't especially tuned in to the mystery and tragedy of Nielsen's later works. He zips too quickly through the first movement of the Fifth, missing its combination of anguish and chaos. He isn't expansive or joyous enough in Sym. #3, even though the subtitle is 'Espansiva.'



Where Jarvi shines is in visceral excitement, and since Sym. #4 'The Inextinguishable' contains more thrills than any ohter, his reading is glavanic--the various eruptions of percussion and the famous duel between two timpanists couldn't be more dramatic. I think it also helps that the Gothenburg orchestra isn't large by philharmonic standards--the lean textures Jarvi gets sound more correct than, say, Karajan's famous readinng of the Fourth with the Berlin Phil.



Still, there are seven complete Nielsen cycles on the market, and if a buyer picks and chooses, greater performances can be had than any here. I would begin with Bernstein's incomparable Sym. #3 and #5, Salonen's #4, Stokowski's live #6, and the two early symphonies with Blomstedt, in spectcular sound from San Francisco. Jarvi should be kept in mind mainly for the dashing energy he works up in Sym. #4 and #6."