Search - Carl Nielsen, Osmo Vänskä, Glasgow BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra :: Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4

Enriching

David Saemann | 07/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is very hard not to like this CD, in spite of its drawbacks. The orchestral playing is stunning, the dynamic range of the recording is breathtaking, and the recorded balance is exemplary. I did feel, though, that Vanska's reading of the Third Symphony was a little straitlaced. My first experience of the piece was in Bernstein's recording, which I think was rather more rhapsodic. Nevertheless, this is a rare opportunity to really hear what the score sounds like from top to bottom. Vanska is a superb technician, and the BBC Scottish plays for him even better than his Lahti Symphony. As for the Fourth, my reservations are slight. The tempos are stately, even a little slow on occasion, but the work seems to expand to meet the extra room. The second movement's wind playing is rather subdued--other conductors seem to make it perkier--but Vanska's conception is certainly valid. There are great analog recordings of this symphony by Bernstein, Martinon, and Max Rudolf, but Vanska's is a rare opportunity to hear a fine performance recorded with great clarity and beauty. I think any Nielsen fan will want to hear this disc, no matter what other versions they have."

Unsympathetic readings by Vanska

Long-time listener | Wichita KS, USA | 05/14/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've heard a number of recordings by Vanska that I like, but I think there are many better recordings of Nielsen's 3rd and 4th. In the 4th, Vanska attempts to use fast tempos and a vehement and blustery approach to wring extra drama from the work, but instead only manages to miss the depth, grandeur, and excitement that it naturally conveys under other conductors. The music ends up seeming somewhat trivialized. Likewise, I don't understand why in the 3rd symphony, called the "Expansiva," and in its second movement, called a "pastorale," it is necessary to rush breathlessly through, again missing the "expansiveness" that was surely intended. Vanska's recording of Nielsen's 1st is excellent, making it all the harder to understand why here he just doesn't seem in sympaty with the music. Rozhdestvensky, Chung, Blomstedt, and others do better with it."