Customer Reviews

Carl Nielsen: The Four String Quartets

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Nielsen's 4 quartets all come from fairly early in his career (the last is from around the time of his 3rd Symphony), so they don't provide a creative overview of his entire adult life the way Bartok's quartets do. But, they do offer the picture of a young composer spreading his creative wings--and frankly, are full of terrific music.

This is the best set available with robust playing and the usual high-quality sound offered by BIS. Give Nielsen's music a chance and I think you'll find this a set that ends up being repeatedly played.

I just got this set, and have enjoyed it, but it has a peculiar quality. The Kontra Quartet's performances of the Nielsen String Quartets is orchestral in the extreme, rather than very much in the chamber music vein. They play very broadly, and the expansive arc of the scores is emphasized. The result is that it certainly makes you think of this great composer's symphonies. That may indeed have been their sub rosa intention, I am not sure. Something is a bit lost by the wideness of the readings, and the intimacy of chamber music is hardly to be found in these recordings. Still, they work. In fact they work a bit better overall than other recordings I have of these works. So it leaves you with a question about the nature of Nielsen's writing in terms of chamber music per se. The Kontra players have a really glorious intonation which really helps, and may speak, more than anything, to why the performances of these very involved works are so successful. The only real downer is that the sound is pretty "big concert hall". Again, not helping any feeling that you are engaging in works of chamber music.

The genre of the chamber works of Carl Nielsen is still an immense wasteland for the most of listeners.

These String Quartets are another additional proof of the resplendent creative effluvium of this maxim Danish composer. Admirably built and eloquently expressive.

If you are a profound admirer of Carl Nielsen (as I do) and still do not know about these works, it would be a great opportunity to enjoy and delight with these admirable String Quartets, that conform together with the impressive set of Shostakovich set one of the most towering works in this genre.