Denmark's greatest composer has always been neglected by international audiences, so it is always good to see more recordings of Carl Nielsen's symphonies, but unfortunately this particular disc is not much more than serviceable.
Michael Schønwandt and the
Danish National Symphony are unquestionably giving the composer's Fourth and Fifth their best effort. From the explosive exposition of the Fourth's opening Allegro through the vigorous fugues that close the Fifth, the Danish musicians are on top of the notes and deep into the music. Likewise, conductor
Schønwandt is clearly up for the music and he holds together the rambunctious Fourth and the volatile Fifth with a firm hand. But despite the performers' obvious energy and enthusiasm, their accounts of these works are fairly dull. Where the Fourth should be a musical battle between life and death, here, with its blended colors and restrained dynamic, it is as exciting as afternoon tea with the vicar and his wife. The Fifth should be a musical struggle between order and chaos, but the reserved rhetoric and bland lyricism of this performance make it about as involving as a game of checkers. Compared with the great recorded performances of the past, starting with Thomas Jensen's apocalyptic Fourth and Erik Tuxen's cataclysmic Fifth, these performances are superfluous and can't be redeemed by the clean, but not especially vivid sound.