Nielsen - Symphonies Nos 2 & 3

Colin Davis establishes himself as a first-class Nielsenian on our pick of the week... With this coupling, Davis leaves the best for last, too: Nielsen’s most accessible symphony, 'The Four Temperaments' (No 2), a work ideally suited to Davis’s volatile humours; and the 'Sinfonia Espansiva', arguably the composer’s greatest and most characteristically nationalist.

**** Performance
This recording is an exhilarating display of the life-force at full blast in both composer and conductor.

The whole work is well paced from the choleric outburst of the first movement to the cheerfully sanguine finale. In fact that’s one of the keys to this account – Davis manages to convince you that it is indeed a symphony, and not a set of four character pieces. The LSO’s playing is irreproachable in the last instalment with Davis.

Conducting with precision and vitality, Colin Davis completes his survey of all six Nielsen symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra.

With this sublime setting down of Symphonies 2 & 3, Colin Davis brings to a triumphant conclusion his enlightening Nielsen symphony cycle. The first title in the series, Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5, was an instant critical success (with some caveats), while the second, with Symphonies 1 & 6, was similarly acclaimed. Nielsen’s Second Symphony was a result of the composer’s exposure to a naïve painting representing the four temperaments of the human personality. The Third is the most characteristically Danish of his symphonies, and is given a non-pareil reading here in glowing surround sound which tames the Barbican acoustic.

Sir Colin Davis’s interpretations of the great Dane’s idiosyncratic and tempestuous scores have been revelations.

Zesty and affectionate, with depth of feeling when required, there is a freshness to this account that makes it worth hearing, and the joyous finale has a bounce that is infectious.

The sonics on both are up to the high standards of LSO Live SACDs. Individual solos come through clearly and with great spatiality, and the orchestral climaxes are rich and clean, free of the compression effects frequently heard on standard CDs.

The newly released Nielsen: Symphonies 2 & 3 is drawn from concerts in December 2011 and showcases authoritative performances that for me are the best in class. Nielsen needs a firm hand, and gets one from Davis; his intellectual grip and rigour is astonishing for a man of his age.