Classical Music Playlist, June 6, 2023

At age 24 in 1889 Carl Nielsen began his 16-year position in the second violin section of the Royal Danish Orchestra. Five years later he performed in the orchestra for the premiere of his own First Symphony. He would become a Danish national hero, eventually composing six symphonies that to this day are among the core repertoire of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra who have recently released a 3-CD set of all six symphonies led by Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi. Each day this week, we’ll feature one of Nielsen’s first five symphonies from this new cycle with the Fifth on his birthday, June 9.

“Carl Nielsen has his own, personal language,” Fabio Luisi says. “At times, it is highly unusual, but it is also witty and profound, and it is highly obvious that the Danish National Symphony Orchestra is extremely familiar with its distinctive characteristics.”

Liner notes from this new recording cycle describes the Symphony No. 2 “The Four Temperaments” as:

A character symphony based on the concept in antiquity of four universal human types: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine.

The four human types correspond exactly to the movements of a symphony. The choleric is depicted in the wildly dynamic opening movement; the phlegmatic is a brief interlude, since the phlegmatic person does not use many words; and the melancholic third movement is naturally the dark, introvert section of the symphony. In the witty final movement, the sanguine type gallops away but, being short-sighted, does not exactly know where the road leads.

Fabio Luisi feels that Carl Nielsen’s humor is quite special: “He really has an urge to be funny! His humor is almost childlike, something that is highly unexpected in a symphonic context, but it is understandable to everyone, irrespective of cultural background.”

The Symphony No. 2 “The Four Temperaments” by Carl Nielsen, from the new cycle recorded by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi, is today’s Midday Masterpiece.