Search - Carl Nielsen, Jean Martinon, Morton Gould :: Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments"' Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable"

FINALLY-THE BEST Nielsen 4 and a superb 2 are raised from th

Darin Tysdal | Bloomington, MN 55420 | 03/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had always heard about Martinon's recording of the Nielsen 4 when I was younger (about 20 years younger) but it was out of print at the time (knowing RCA, it probably only lasted about a year). However, my local college library had a copy of the disc and I must have checked it out multiple times. I recorded it on tape and lived with that. Finally I came upon the LP in my local record store (about 5 years later) and just about fainted! It was in great condition and I lived very happily, but wanting it on CD and also wanting others to hear this marvelous performance. In the mid 90's the British Navigator Series came out which had this recording along with Andre Previn's justly famous 1st. I should have bought that right away, because being an import, it was not easy to get after it's initital US run. Thanks to the internet, I found a used copy and was very pleased with the remastering. Now, these recordings now can be enjoyed by the general populace and I hope that their status as being "classics" will live forever. Both of these performances have an essential "Nielsen Quality" that of extreme forward motion and excitement. I have heard so many recordings of these works, and some are so romanticized that they get bogged down. Gould's 2nd is just such an animal. Right away you are transported to Nielsen's sound world. This performance is so exciting and thrilling and also is a testament to the glorious playing of the Chicago Symphony. The sound is not up to normal standards (for that, Chung and the Gothenburg on BIS still is the Gold Standard for me) but this performance is one of the best. The Fourth is another story. Jean Martinon was unlucky to be conducting the Chicago Symphony after Fritz Reiner, but he made so many wonderful recordings! Ravel,Roussel, Bizet, Lalo, Nielsen, Martinon himself, and Peter Mennin were all representative of his years at the CSO. Many of these recordings did not last in the catalogs for long (why was this, RCA?) and my well-taken care of lp's remain my only way to hear these performances-until now! Like Gould's recording of the Nielsen 2, this performance grabs you by the throat and never lets go. No big longuers here (Bernstein is the big sinner here). No unwanted big ritards, no suddenly slow tempos, just how the composer wrote the score. The timpani battle just jumps out at you and the timpanists are actually creditied! The sound seems a little bit more present than the previous remastering, and some allowances have to be made for the sound. BUT THIS PERFORMANCE IS FABULOUS! RUN, DO NOT WALK TO YOUR LOCAL CD STORE (OR AMAZON) and buy this CD before RCA in their infinite wisdom, put this CD out of print! But to do so would be to deprive the world of one of the best performances in the history of recorded sound!"

Among the greatest orchestral recordings

Michael Eckert | Iowa City, IA USA | 07/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Martinon's recordings of the Nielsen Fourth Symphony and Helios Overture are among the greatest orchestral recordings ever made, and their reissue on CD is long overdue. Martinon's performance of the "Inextinguishable" puts every other available recording of this masterpiece in the shade. The brass playing of the Chicago Symphony, and the "duel" between two sets of tympani in the finale are listening experiences to be enjoyed again and again.

There is one small problem regarding the trasition to the last section of the 4th Symphony: at the end of track 7, corresponding to the end of the "Con anima" section that begins at rehearsal no. 42, there is a pause of about 5 seconds, which is 4 seconds too long in terms of what is written in the score. This pause was not in the RCA Navigator version."

Strong and exciting performances, excellent recording, great

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 05/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not an expert in the symphonies of Carl Nielsen but I can tell you this pairing beats the pants off the last CD I owned that paired the Symphonies 2 and 4 -- one I burned at home that included Stokowksi's 1967 Danish concert version of the "Four Temperaments" with the studio recording of Herbert Blomstedt's "Indistinguishable".



This recording, featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Morton Gould (No. 2)and Jean Martinon (No. 4 and the rest), is more dramatic and the sound is far more front loaded with more brilliant highs and better definition in the lows than the two previously mentioned. Martinon and Gould lead very exciting performances of the symphonies, which I thought were pretty bland basedo nmy previous elongated experience through my homemade CD.



I was very surprised to learn this since both the Stokowski No. 2 and Blomstedt No. 4 have received many critical plaudits over the years. This was most of the reason I acquired these versions in the first place. This one blows them both away and includes a couple other pieces by Nielsen, the "Helios" overture and "The Fog Is Lifting" from incidental music to "The Mother".



In the final analysis, this inexpensive CD is exciting, sounds good and provides an excellent introduction into the two most popular and well-known of the Dane's symphonies. While my old CD shows why many people think the moniker "Inexhaustible" should really be "Indistinguishable", you won't think anything like that after you hear this CD."