# Anyone else really like Nielsen's 1st Symphony?



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I think it's a really great 1st. It's not a monster like Brahms 1, but maybe more like Beethoven 1 or Tchaikovsky 1, gutsy and inspired, thematically very direct, completely fresh. And has strongly the signature of Nielsen's odd and somewhat 'crooked' phrase and harmony style.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I see Nielsen's first 3 symphonies in very much the same light as the first three by Sibelius, i.e. all the mature signs are there and each takes you in a long stride towards the composer's greatest works.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I agree with that. But I really enjoy the 1st and the 2nd has such a markedly different character as well. Nielsen's 3rd belongs to the complete masterpiece part of his oevre. 

Nielsen and Sibelius are both some of my favorite composers from that time period, but they are incredibly different. Their timelines and geography closely parallel each other, but they have very little else in common. For discussion it makes sense to pair them, but I hope that even from a distance, nobody is thinking Nielsen is any more similar to Sibelius than he is to Mahler. I personally think the essence of his music has more in common with Janacek than either.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I have to agree with Becca, somehow Sibelius to me is more accessible.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Nielsen is certainly my preference, though I like both.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

I know this might run contrary to many of the opinions regarding Nielsen's symphonies but while I have a real admiration for all 6 it is the first 3 that I repeatedly turn to for what might be described as enjoyment-the 3rd is one of my favourite pieces of music full stop the 1st really does strike me as fresh and very individual. Again I understand fully the point that assuming there are marked similarities with Sibelius might be misguided but I continue to feel that while their music might be very different they are both responding to their environments which lay on the margins of the European mainstream both geographically and culturally (well I know what I mean....I think!)


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Pugg said:


> I have to agree with Becca, somehow Sibelius to me is more accessible.


I neither said that nor meant it.


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

Yes, I enjoy No.1, though No.5 has the edge to my ear.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Number 5 has all kinds of edge indeed...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

The first symphony is great like all his symphonies.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Pugg said:


> I have to agree with Becca, somehow Sibelius to me is more accessible.


I think Nielsen is more special. His symphonies have more flavour.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

clavichorder said:


> I think it's a really great 1st. It's not a monster like Brahms 1, but maybe more like Beethoven 1 or Tchaikovsky 1, gutsy and inspired, thematically very direct, completely fresh. And has strongly the signature of Nielsen's odd and somewhat 'crooked' phrase and harmony style.


A guy named Mahler had a fairly interesting First...


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Yes...................


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I have never actually heard the first, so I went to YouTube for a quick listen. My first impression: like his other symphonies, a really robust sort of work.

I have always struggled a bit to make sense of Nielsen's symphonies; they seem to lack much in the way of melodic interest, which makes it tricky to recognize the landmarks, so to speak. Thus, (to me at least) on first hearing, and indeed on second and third and fourth and who knows how many more) they seem to be a tad formless and rambling. I can indeed not even work out whether the movements are supposed to be in some variant of sonata form (and if not, how I should go about trying to see the bigger picture).

Despite this (perhaps even because of it, actually) I like them, for reasons I can't really articulate. There is _something_ there, even if I can't quite work out what it is, and I keep on feeling I'm at the brink of some sort of revelation, where I will suddenly fully get it.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

It's positive and forward striding as one would expect from a first symphony - cf Beethoven, and the antithesis of the Brahms 1st.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Love it! I was pleased to be able to see/hear LSO & Sir Colin Rex Davis do it at Barbican, a couple of years before his death. For recordings--SFS/Blomstedt; DanishNSO/Schonwandt. :tiphat:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I need to revisit 1 & 2. And I agree with Clavi about No.3


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## Mahlerite555 (Aug 27, 2016)

It's a crappy symphony.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Mahlerite555 said:


> It's a crappy symphony.


I would rather listen to Nielsen´s first symphony than any Mahler symphony.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Troll alert! This Mahlerite555 character has posted in several threads today repeating the same moronic opinion. Apparently crappy is the only adjective in his/her vocabulary.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

starthrower said:


> Troll alert! This Mahlerite555 character has posted in several threads today repeating the same moronic opinion. Apparently crappy is the only adjective in his/her vocabulary.


He also called Renee Fleming a MILF and made a black-people-like-fried-chicken joke.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> He also called Renee Fleming a MILF and made a black-people-like-fried-chicken joke.


Hey Mods, give him the boot!


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## Mahlerite555 (Aug 27, 2016)

I apologize. Nielsen is actually the best composer of all time. 

Bach kneels.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

starthrower said:


> Hey Mods, give him the boot!


It worked it seems


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Triplets said:


> A guy named Mahler had a fairly interesting First...


Agreed, he did.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

brianvds said:


> I have never actually heard the first, so I went to YouTube for a quick listen. My first impression: like his other symphonies, a really robust sort of work.
> 
> I have always struggled a bit to make sense of Nielsen's symphonies; they seem to lack much in the way of melodic interest, which makes it tricky to recognize the landmarks, so to speak. Thus, (to me at least) on first hearing, and indeed on second and third and fourth and who knows how many more) they seem to be a tad formless and rambling. I can indeed not even work out whether the movements are supposed to be in some variant of sonata form (and if not, how I should go about trying to see the bigger picture).
> 
> Despite this (perhaps even because of it, actually) I like them, for reasons I can't really articulate. There is _something_ there, even if I can't quite work out what it is, and I keep on feeling I'm at the brink of some sort of revelation, where I will suddenly fully get it.


Though I kind of just accepted that I was going to pay more attention to Nielsen symphonies at some point, I can relate to what you are saying. I had already taken time with Martinu before, who had interested me for the sheer diversity of his musical textures and orchestration, with only the most basic musical ideas. Nielsen seems a more concentrated and deliberate composer than Martinu save for the best of Martinu(Martinu is different, it's hard to compare). Curiously, I also think of Nielsen as related to Janacek. Janacek somehow manages to have extreme melodic interest, but I remember thinking maybe it was a bit rambling at first. Why? In his case it was because the phrases had an inspiration totally unlike most music before it, the rhythm of his language being a part of that. Back to Nielsen, he was actually a Mozartian and apparently he didn't even like much of the 19th century music, or hold it that close. So while it's easy to think of him as some late to post romantic, this is a man coming from way outside the mainstream musical society of Europe from a more rural Danish setting, who played folks music with wind instruments but found his way. I believe the 5th symphony, which is the most overtly unique of his(in that you can't find any other such works) is a must for people who are struggling with Nielsen but want to learn more. This will take you straight to the essence of his music, where you can't be as readily confused by expectations of other composers before and during his time. Returning to other symphonies, you can get a sense of the interactive nature of his phrases, how they simply grow out of each other in ways that at first appear quirky and sometimes are legitimately so(he liked his jokes), but are consistent with a musical thinking of true integrity. But I would think of the first as a good entry point too. You can hear the influence of Brahms, Dvorak, and perhaps Tchaikovsky and Rimsky Korsakov, but as many highly creative composer of the next generation, there is a sort of play going on with these things.

Another fun game: try and see if you don't hear a few Shostakovich like themes in lots of his symphonies. Some of them were more or less use by Shostakovich, and it was probably coincidence.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I listened to symphonies 1 & 2 yesterday by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Douglas Bostock. I really enjoyed no. 1 more than in the past. I had listened to it by Blomstedt and the S.F. symphony a couple years ago.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I like the Blomstedt, which is my current go to, but sometimes a fresh perspective is needed!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The Bostock cycle is available on the baragain box The Danish Symphonist. A 10 disc set that sells for under 16 dollars from some vendors.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I happened to hear Thomas Dausgaard conduct symphony no. 4 live last winter. I don't know about Dausgaard recordings, but live he was dynamite.


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## James Mann (Sep 6, 2016)

It's a nice symphony, haven't listened too it much. Underrated composer!


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