Nielsen, C.: Violin Concerto / Clarinet Concerto / Flute Concerto

Description

Carl Nielsen(1865-1931)Complete ConcertosFirst Symphony, anearly example of his use of 'progressive tonality': finishing in a differentkey to that at the start of the work. This technique was to become a commonfeature of his compositions.Nielsen began to conduct at this time and in 1908 became the conductorof the Royal Opera, a post he held until 1914, when he left to concentrate moreon composition. From 1915 he was the conductor of Copenhagen's PhilharmonicOrchestra and the director of the Copenhagen Conservatory, where he taughttheory. Nielsen retired from the Conservatory in 1927. He died of a heartattack on 3rd October, 1931.Nielsen was the leading Danish composer of his generation with sixsymphonies, two operas, three concertos and other orchestral works to his name.Other works include choral works and songs, a wind quintet, three violinsonatas, some piano pieces, five string quartets and one string quintet.The Violin Concerto was started in the summer of 1911 on a visitto the home of Nina Grieg, the widow of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.Nielsen composed in an idyllic setting at Grieg's hut in Troldhaugen, nearBergen. He completed the work in December of that year and conducted its firstperformance in February 1912. Nielsen had wanted the concerto to be 'popularand showy without being superficial': the result is a work that is relaxed andaffable. It eschews the conventional three-movement form in favour of twomovements, each of which starts with a slower section. The first movementbegins with a Praeludium (Largo). This is largely improvisatory inflavour with its cadenza and gypsy-like flourishes, but a period of repose endsit and leads into the noble Allegro cavalleresco. The Poco adagio ofthe econd movement takes on the role of a classical concerto's slow movement.It pays tribute to Bch, the oboe playing the notes E flat, A, C, E natural (B AC H in German nomenclature). Nielsen considered the Rondo, markedAllegretto scherzando, that follows to be 'vacillating, almost aimless,but nice and charming like an earnestly smiling layabout on a better day'.The concertos for flute and clarinet are the only fruits of Nielsen'sdesire to write a work for each member of the Copenhagen ensemble for which hehad produced the Wind Quintet in 1922. Nielsen knew the players well,and each of their personalities was recorded for posterity in the respectiveconcerto.The Flute Concerto was originally written with Paul Hagemann inmind, but Gilbert Jespersen inherited it when he replaced Hagemann in theCopenhagen Wind Quintet: it is Jespersen's meticulous, refined nature thatpermeates the piece. A trombone plays the fool throughout in contrast to the politeflute. As Nielsen had played the trombone in his military band days, this mightbe considered to represent the composer himself. The concerto is in twomovements. Nielsen described the beginning of the first movement (Allegromoderato) as being gently dissonant and 'if anything, kept in a free,improvisatory style,