Fabio Luisi’s DG box of Nielsen symphonies won the Gramophone recording of the year last night.
When we reviewed it in April on Slippedisc and partner sites we wrote: ‘This enterprise is a true rarity on record in the 21st century, an epochal set that will last the test of time.’
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Luisi is a fine conductor. Nielsen especially. And I am not a Nielsen man.
Nielsen, Schmidt, Price, Ives cycles. Great. Well done, DG.
Now how about RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS : The Symphonies?
Or any other British symphony recording. Don’t British people buy enough DG? Got something against British music?
Ok, ok, ok. But how about Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Belgian,Swiss, Slovakian, Croatian, Hungarian works for orchestra? There definitely is some great music well worth discovering beyond Bartok, Ravel, Nielsen and RVW.
DG has recorded symphonies by Berwald and Pettersson (Sweden), Honegger and Franck (Switzerland and Belgium) as well as works for orchestra by Hummel (Slovakia), Suppé (Croatia), Nono (Italy), Ligeti (Hungary) and Andriessen (Netherlands).
RVW? We already have superb sets from Boult, Handley, Slatkin, Andrew Davis, fine sets from Naxos and Chandos and most of all there’s Andre Previn’s magnificent traversal. Who among today’s conductors is a really strong advocate for RVW? We also don’t need any more Elgar or Bax symphonies. There are so many fine British composers who have been completely ignored, and they’re not all in the “cow pat” school. Toccata Classics and Lyrita are doing great things.
We need another Howard Hanson cycle! The only one that I know of is by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony, and while it *is* great, one cycle is never enough, and Hanson’s symphonies other than the “Romantic” deserve to be heard just on their own merits.
Would love to see another recording of Hanson 4.
I’ve been faithful to Schmidt/LSO for almost 50 years, but this set is now en route from Amazon. Looking forward to it.
Could you perhaps have mentioned the orchestra as well? Conductors don’t make a sound.
Indeed: the Danish orchestra combines with the Italian conductor to shine a new, yet still authentic, light on Nielsen. The recording of the year, by the way, is for the single disc of the 4th and 5th symphonies, although the citation mentions the complete cycle. I’ve been loyal to Blomstedt/San Francisco but will certainly add this new set to my library.
There is a box set of the Nielsen Symphonies on the Brilliant Classics label. The Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by the American born Theodore Kuchar. For some reason these performances seem to be lost to most music reviewers. The only exception I know is MusicWebInternational where it got a glowing review some years ago.
To get to the point, I have both the Kuchar and Luisi CDs. There is no question that the Luisi is exceptional but just exceptional is the Kuchar. In fact I prefer Kuchar’s #1. The rest are pretty much a toss up. If you love the Nielsen symphonies and haven’t heard the Kuchar please do. It’s at a real bargain price too!
Thanks for the tip. I shall do so. When I get time, I shall undertake a Schmidt/Luisi/Kuchar comparison.
It was the 4th and 5th symphonies that won, not the whole box set.
On a different topic and I’d just like to announce, that I personally think Richard Strauss’s best symphonic poem is………..wait for it……………..
Symphonia Domestica
( The Karajan and Jarvi recordings.)