# September Gramophone (or, appealing to Vesteralen's weaknesses)



## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Okay, I made a choice more than a year ago to subscribe to BBC Music Magazine instead of Gramophone - mainly because they let you pay by the issue instead of forking out for the whole year at once.

But, occasionally, I will visit a newsstand and pick up a single issue of Classic FM or Gramophone if something about it jumps out at me.

Well, the September Gramophone practically jumped of the rack into my hands. Not only did it have Elgar on the cover (and an article on the 2nd symphony headlined across the top), but it also advertised the article "Finally, Everyone's Talking About Nielsen" with the cover-blurb "Bach, Beethoven...Nielsen - The newest composer to join the greats".

Who cares that the article seems to base this claim almost exclusively on the fact the the New York Philharmonic is recording the six symphonies? I'll take it anyway. I'm an easy mark. 

The best part is, I don't really believe it. Nielsen is never really going to become that popular. Now, I can breathe a sigh of relief - there's no fun rooting for somone who's popular. I can continue to bask in my arcane snobbishness while having my predilections validated by the cognoscenti. 

(Don't overlook the wink, guys...)


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## hespdelk (Mar 19, 2011)

:lol:

Love your story.

I don't know that Nielsen is quite in the tier of Bach and Beethoven, but he is definetly one of the greats.

His cycle of symphonies is one of the most important ones from his period - who else can really claim to come out ahead in those decades at the bridge between 19th and 20th centuries? Mahler and Sibelius come to mind - but precious little else! Such solid deep works carrying the classic-romantic symphonic tradition into a new and different direction from any of his contemporaries.


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