Search - Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Alexander Gibson :: Carl August Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 /Sibelius: Tone Poems

Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Alexander Gibson
Carl August Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 /Sibelius: Tone Poems
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (8) - Disc #1
1. Rhapsodic Ov: An Imaginary Journey To The Faroe-Islands
2. Sym No.4 Op.29 'The Inextinguishable': I. Allegro
3. Sym No.4 Op.29 'The Inextinguishable': II. Poco Allegretto
4. Sym No.4 Op.29 'The Inextinguishable': III. Poco Adagio Quasi Andante
5. Sym No.4 Op.29 'The Inextinguishable': IV. Allegro
6. Pan And Syrinx Op.49: A Nature Scene
7. The Dryad Op.45 No.1
8. En Saga Op.9

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CD Details

All Artists: Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Alexander Gibson
Title: Carl August Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 /Sibelius: Tone Poems
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Chandos
Release Date: 10/28/1992
Genre: Classical
Styles: Forms & Genres, Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music, Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 095115652428

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Nielsen's Fourth Symphony is one of the most vital and exciting pieces of music composed this century. The finale, in which two sets of timpani battle from opposite sides of the stage (or your speakers), ought to lift you out of your seat, but most conductors wimp out on the piece and make it sound way too timid. Alexander Gibson encourages his drummers to really slam away, and Chandos captures the duel in spectacularly vivid sound. For this and other reasons-- Gibson's perfect sense of the proper tempo in particular--this is the best performance of the Inextinguishable available at the moment. The couplings are all very well-done, and appropriate. --David Hurwitz

CD Reviews

Norse Giants

William Michaels | Hillsborough, NJ United States | 04/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A well-selected, -arranged, -performed, and -recorded CD. I agree with the assessment that Nielsen's Fourth is one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century (along with several of Mahler's, and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms). However, the timpani battle in the last movement is far from the only excitement. All four movements shine with the sort of vital energy associated with Beethoven. Also, in its own dissonant way, the small masterpiece Pan and Syrinx partakes of this vitality. I would call this tone poem, along with Roussel's Bacchus and Ariane ballet, the truest and most exciting musical realization of Greek myth. Sibelius's The Dryad also has some of this spirit.Highly recommended!"