Nielsen Quintet

Nielsen's 4 quartets all come from fairly early in his career (the last is from around the time of his 3rd Symphony), so they don't provide a creative overview of his entire adult life the way Bartok's quartets do. But, they do offer the picture of a young composer spreading his creative wings–and frankly, are full of terrific music. This is the best set available with robust playing and the usual high-quality sound offered by BIS.

Nielsen's 4 quartets all come from fairly early in his career (the last is from around the time of his 3rd Symphony), so they don't provide a creative overview of his entire adult life the way Bartok's quartets do. But, they do offer the picture of a young composer spreading his creative wings–and frankly, are full of terrific music. This is the best set available with robust playing and the usual high-quality sound offered by BIS.

Carl August Nielsen (Danish: ; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's greatest composer. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. He initially played in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1884 until December 1886. He premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. The following year, Nielsen began a 16-year stint as a second violinist in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra under the conductor Johan Svendsen, during which he played in 's Falstaff and Otello at their Danish premieres. In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Academy and continued to work there until his death.

While their playing is just a little bit on the scrappy side, it is still hard not to enjoy this recording by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble. Part of the reason is the players' innate beauty of tone. Part of the reason is the players' affection for the music. Part of the reason is the players' sheer joy in making music. And part of the reason is that the music is just so darned enjoyable. Johan Svendsen may be no Edvard Grieg, but he still mines the same deep vein of Scandinavian sentimental melody and his String Octet is as charming as any piece of chamber music this side of Schubert's Octet.

Ten CDs bring together the works of one of the most prominent Danish composers, as performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and a variety of vocal and instrumental soloists. Includes the entirety of six symphonies, plus concertos for clarinet, violin, and flute; a wind quintet; piano works; and more.

The six symphonies were recorded between 1973 and 1975, and for their time were the best available recordings of Nielsen's music. They constitute the bulk of this 2008 box set, and though two smaller sets of the symphonies and the concertos were issued by EMI in 2007, this seven-disc compendium provides much more music at a comparable cost.