Customer Reviews

Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first issue in Vanska's Nielsen Symphony series and it announced the appearance of a major conductor in this repertoire. As good as Vanska's Lahti Symphony recordings are, they don't prepare you for the incredible results he achieved with the BBC Scottish in Nielsen. My first LP of the Nielsen 1st was Andre Previn's, a very rhapsodic reading that I like very much and which has appeared on CD on the RCA Navigator label. Vanska is altogether less caressing of the music. He builds structures which illuminate the score, with a brilliant feeling for its sonorities. There is nothing Romantic about this reading, and many listeners will feel that this is a more idiomatic approach to Nielsen, even early Nielsen. The Sixth receives a full blooded performance that is totally at home with the work's quirkiness. There are a number of isolated riffs in the symphony that require sensitivity of execution, and Vanska gives them full measure. The structure of the entire work holds together better than in most other performances, although I still retain a fondness for Neeme Jarvi's CD. Vanska's is just as good. The sound engineering is up to BIS's high standards, with a terrific dynamic range along with warmth and clarity. Be prepared for some extremely soft pianissimos, which appear to be hallmarks of Vanska as an executant.

I've heard Vanska's other Nielsen recordings and generally don't like them, but I have to admit this is one of the finest recordings of the 1st. (My other favorite readings include Chung and Rozhdestvensky.) In other symphonies like the 4th, Vanska tends toward a blustery and overly fast and vehement treatment that really fails to capture the scale, depth, and majesty of the music. Here, however, his tempos are perfectly judged, and even the "pastoral" dreaminess of the second movement comes through. Arguably some of the tympani playing in the first movement is overly vehement, but this performance nevertheless is first rate and I listen to it often, as the 1st is one of my favorite Nielsen symphonies.