Carl Nielsen's two late woodwind concertos are performed here by the
Philharmonia Orchestra with its own principals, in live recordings (no
applause) at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Both works were
conceived as portraits of their first soloists. Samuel Coles neatly
personifies the fastidious Gilbert Jespersen, maintaining elegance and
integrity in response to the intrusions of the orchestra, including a
particularly obnoxious bass trombone. The controlled orchestral playing
and the natural sound balance create a nice sense of chamber-music interplay between the soloist and his colleagues—including, sensibly, a
solo violin rather than a whole section for the flickering runs at 2:35
in the first movement. Mark van de Wiel is equally convincing as the
choleric Aage Oxenvad, responding angrily to the orchestra, and in the
virtuoso cadenzas equally capable of picking a fight with himself.
Unfortunately, the side drum, which frequently eggs him on, all but
disappears from the balance at lower dynamic levels.
A rival
account of the concertos by the New York Philharmonic with its
principals under Alan Gilbert, on Dacapo, boasts equally fine solo and
orchestral playing, but the recording shines more of a spotlight on the
soloists (and on a larger-than-life trombone). That disc completes the
set of Nielsen's concertos with an outstanding account of the Violin
Concerto by Nikolaj Znaider. This one adds a colourful studio recording
of the Suite from the music for the play Aladdin, with its Ivesian depiction of 'The Marketplace in Ispahan' in four superimposed, unrelated strands of music. (BBC Music Magazine)
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