Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen)

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The Symphony No. 5 by Carl Nielsen was completed in 1922 and premiered in Copenhagen with the composer conducting in the same year.

It is scored for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, snare drum, timpani, and strings.

Of Nielsen's six symphonies, it is one of only two without a subtitle (the other is Symphony No. 1 in G minor), and the only one to be in two movements rather than the usual four. Nielsen once jokingly explained to the press that it was easy to write the first three movements of a symphony but in the finale most composers "slipped up."

The first movement is famous for a passage in which the snare drummer is instructed to improvise as if to make the orchestra stop playing. Robert Simpson sees the work as a struggle to break free from "apathy and reaction" represented by the key of F. The first movement manages a provisional victory in G major, but the second movement soon finds itself mired in two F minor fugatos. Only at the very end is a triumphant conclusion achieved in E-flat major, which Simpson says had been hinted at since the beginning.

[edit] Discography

A typical performance of the Symphony lasts at most 40 minutes. On compact disc, some record labels split the movements into more than one track each, as Decca Records does for Herbert Blomstedt's recording with the San Francisco Symphony, while others have just two tracks for the two movements (e.g., Osmo Vänskä's recording with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra).

Notable recordings include: