Nielsen added an explanatory note to his Fourth Symphony, stating that its title, 'The Inextinguishable', indicates "The elemental Will of Life. Music is life, and like it, inextinguishable."
Compositional Technique
The Fourth Symphony, 'The Inextinguishable', is conceived in a single sweep, with transitions between its four movements so skillfully dovetailed that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins.
Compositional Technique
In his Fifth Symphony, Nielsen used a battery of unpitched percussion, including an unmistakably militaristic side-drum, for the first time in a symphony.
Composer Biography
Carl Nielsen's family were Danish peasants, and his father led a village band, meaning Nielsen did not have to 'discover' his country's indigenous culture, as it was "in his blood."
Performer Biography
Sir Colin Davis, the conductor on this album, was the London Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor from 1995 to 2006 and became its first President since Leonard Bernstein in 2007.
Historical Context
Carl Nielsen, the composer, initially welcomed the prospect of the 1914-18 War, believing it offered an opportunity for 'spiritual cleansing' and a celebration of traditional masculine virtues.
Compositional Technique
At the climax of the Fifth Symphony's first movement, the side-drummer is instructed to improvise 'in his own tempo, as though determined at all costs to obstruct the music.'
You might also enjoy...
Spohr: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8
Ferdinand Hiller: Symphony op. 67 & Symphony in F minor
