This is the third release in Gardner’s Bergen Nielsen series. Interestingly, this is Chandos’s fourth cycle: the first two were both recorded in the 1990s, a ruggedly exciting traversal with Bryden Thomson and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and a sluggish set with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In 2015, the label released a third cycle as a box set played by the BBC Philharmonic, led by the Principal Guest Conductor (now Chief Conductor) John Storgårds. I consider that the finest of the three.
Perhaps Chandos would argue this latest cycle is warranted because it features Super-Audio sound, and the engineering is indeed exceptional: clear yet warmly resonant, with tremendous impact in fortissimo passages. But we already have three distinguished ‘super-audio ‘cycles: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic (Dacapo); Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live); and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo (BIS), which is my prime recommendation for the complete symphonies.
This new album opens with a fine reading of the Helios Overture; it’s opening an evocative impression of sunrise over the Aegean Sea. The horns (here and throughout) are splendid as they introduce a new, vigorous theme, dispatched at a quick tempo, and played with panache. This is one of Nielsen’s most life-affirming works and Gardner manages its many tempo changes admirably. The ending instills a comforting sense of serenity.
The reading of the Clarinet Concerto is not wholly successful. The orchestra plays impressively, as does soloist Alessandro Carbonare. But sometimes his interpretation seems overly refined, as does Gardner’s accompaniment. A review of the concerto’s premiere (in September 1928) illuminates what is missing here: “Oxenvad [the soloist for whom Nielsen wrote the concerto] has made a pact with trolls and giants. He has a temper, a primitive force harsh and clumsy, with a smattering of blue-eyed Danish amenity.” This description suggests something altogether more visceral and harsher than what is heard here, at least in the first movement.
Something changes in the second movement, however. suddenly, the characterization feels more video and emotionally connected. The Adagio summons a touching sense of loneliness, while the final two Allegros find greater drama.
Nevertheless, this reading of the Clarinet Concerto is far preferable to the overly suave readings by Sabine Meyer (Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle/Warner Classics) and Mark van de Wiel (Philharmonia Orchestra/Paavo Jarvi/Signum). My favorite recording, which seems to capture the choleric spirit Nielsen intends, is by Niels Thomsen and the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under Schønwandt (also on Chandos).
Edward Gardner (image: ©️ Benkamin Ealovega)
Much of Nielsen’s fifth symphony is built on conflict, the varying orchestral sections often at war with one another. Gentle strings are countered by acerbic winds; the brass bellows as a snare drum actively seeks to derail the rest of the ensemble. Paul Griffiths, in his perceptive liner notes, uses descriptive adjectives like ‘malignant’ and ‘rampage,’ and Bernstein’s classic New York Philharmonic recording (Sony) captures the music’s disruptive fury in a way few have since equaled. The playing of the Bergen Philharmonic is brilliant, taking Gardner’s fast tempos in stride. But this music requires far more than brilliant technique, and all too often Gardner seems unwilling, or unable, to take on the music’s hyper-emotionalism.
The brash sting of wind interjections is checked. Brass is angry but rarely rages. In the first movement, the snare drum is certainly loud, yet it never pushes the music to the brink. Incessant repetition, another key component of the work’s composition, rarely reaches the painful OCD level. Under Bernstein, Oramo and Luisi’s more recent recording with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DG – Review), emotions are conveyed with a vivid potency. The first fugue in the second movement is tightly controlled when it should be feral. The playing is undeniably brilliant, but we do not get the full emotional story, as we do in the other readings mentioned above.
Recommended Comparisons
Clarinet Concerto: Thomsen | Drucker | Banks | Fröst
Symphony No. 5: Gilbert | Bernstein | Oramo | Luisi
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Album Details |
|
|---|---|
| Album name | Nielsen – Clarinet Concerto, Helios, Symphony No.5 |
| Label | Chandos |
| Catalogue No. | CHSA5314 |
| Artists | Alessandro Carbonare (clarinet), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner (conductor) |
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