Alessandro Carbonare, the clarinet soloist, has been principal clarinettist with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome since 2004 and previously served as principal clarinet with Orchestre national de France for fifteen years.
Composition History
Carl Nielsen composed the Helios Overture in Athens in 1903 while his wife, Anne Marie, was copying sculptures on the Acropolis, describing the city as 'scorchingly hot'.
Composition History
Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto was intended for Aage Oxenvad, a clarinettist from the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, as part of the composer's plan to write a concerto for each member of the group.
Composition History
Carl Nielsen's Fifth Symphony was dedicated to his friends Vera and Carl Johan Michaelsen, who lent him a house north of Copenhagen where he completed the first movement.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Carl Nielsen, the composer, viewed nationalism as a 'deadly disease of the spirit,' a sentiment reflected in the 'malignancy' of the march in his Fifth Symphony.
Compositional Technique
In Carl Nielsen's Fifth Symphony, instruments react to each other's behavior, notably with a snare drummer instructed to obstruct the music, creating a 'battle' within the piece.
Composer Biography
Carl Nielsen, the composer, was legally separated from his wife Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, a distinguished sculptor, but they remained close allies and reunited the year after he began his Fifth Symphony.
