Carl Nielsen: Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 4 – James Ehnes

Nielsen’s epic Violin Concerto was premièred in Copenhagen in February 1912, by the violinist Peder Møller. Nominally the work is structured in two movements; each opens with a slow section and moves to a faster one. Whilst unusual, this layout could be seen as a more usual fast – slow – fast three-movement form, but with an extensive slow introduction to the first movement. The music moves quickly from one idea to the next, and overall has a bold, playful, and optimistic atmosphere. In stark contrast, although written only a few years later, the Fourth Symphony is more cohesive and unified as a work. Written against the background of the First World War, the work is a celebration of life itself. Just before the première, in 1916, Nielsen gave it the following motto: ‘Music is Life, and, like it, inextinguishable.’ While it follows the usual four-movement design, each movement continues into the next without a break. The final movement features two sets of timpani battling each other across the orchestra. The recording was made in Bergen’s Grieghallen, in Surround Sound, and is available as a hybrid SACD and in Spatial Audio.

Gramophone Magazine June 2023

“James Ehnes – that most elegant and unflashy of players – seems to relish all that is unexpected about the piece…Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic give it real backbone and play like its greatest champions.