Nielsen's 5th

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Carl Nielsen: Symfoni nr. 5, op. 50

Open on Yle Areena (2026)More recordings on Kulturbase

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Address

Julius Thomsens Gade 1,
1974 Frederiksberg

Nielsen's 5th

Description

Carl Nielsen is Denmark's national composer, and his Symphony No. 5 is an absolute masterpiece of Danish music history. Carl Nielsen's J.P. Jacobsen songs about the lovely Irmelin Rose and In the Garden of the Seraglio balance between the rich late Romanticism of the texts and the modernity of the music, which we find again in Hans Abrahamsen's short, concentrated symphony from 1974. Carl Nielsen was at the peak of his artistic powers when he composed his Symphony No. 5 in 1922. Written in the shadow of the First World War, the music balances between struggle and collapse on the one hand and will to live and rebuilding on the other. The symphony is famous for its dramatic confrontation between order and chaos, not least through the iconic snare drum that tries to sabotage the course of the music. The result is a raw and deeply human symphony. The same uncompromising spirit is found in Hans Abrahamsen. He made his breakthrough in the early 1970s with the style "New Simplicity", which sought clarity over romantic sentimentality. His music is simple, but poetically charged. The symphony from 1974 gathers these ideals and explores the tension between structure and tonal unrest. Carl Nielsen's 5 songs to poems by J.P. Jacobsen were originally written for voice and piano. The composer Erik Højgaard's orchestral version from 2018 preserves the lyrical character of the Nielsen songs, but expands them into a richer tonal space. Programme: Abrahamsen / Symphony Nielsen / Music to poems by J.P. Jacobsen Nielsen / Symphony No. 5