Schønwandt & Nielsen

Carl Nielsen is in command of the whole broadcast area this evening, and who better to bring his works to life than our own honorary conductor Michael Schønwandt, whose reputation for communicating the Danish composer extends far beyond the country’s borders. Every time, Schønwandt finds new ways of interpreting the works. No two concerts are alike - and no other conductor in the world knows Carl Nielsen as well as Michael Schønwandt. The concert opens with sun and warmth. Carl Nielsen stayed in Athens in 1903, and there he became so taken with the Greek sun and the clear light over the Mediterranean that he composed the fine Helios Overture. In it he depicts the sun’s movement across the sky - from sunrise through the rays of the midday sun to sunset. Before the interval, Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto is also on the programme. While working on his Wind Quintet, Carl Nielsen became so taken with these instruments that he decided to write a concerto for each of them. He only reached the flute and the clarinet, however, before he died. The evening ends with Carl Nielsen’s Second Symphony, which has been an audience favourite since its premiere in Copenhagen in 1902, where Nielsen himself stood on the conductor’s podium.

• Dirigent: Michael Schønwandt
• Jonas Frølundklarinet

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