Nielsen: Symphonies Nos 1-3, etc

Advantages: Contrasting: dramatic and relaxing, darkness to light
Disadvantages: Frustrating if you live in a city

...both performed for the first time in 1808 for Beethoven's benefit concert in Vienna. Symphony no 5 in C minor 1st Movement: Allegro con brio 2nd Movement: Andante con moto 3rd Movement: Allegro 4th Movement: Allegro The period when these symphonies were composed is known as Beethoven's heroic period. The fifth sympony is probably the most characteristic of this phase: Darkness defeated by light. It opens with a dramatic four-note motif that is repeated threatenly through the first movement. (The motif was used by the allies during WW2 as a Victory symbol) The second movement is slower and more lyrical. The tempo of the short third movement speeds up to lead into the triumphal finale. Symphony no 6 in F major 1st Movement: Allegro ma non troppo Awakening of cheefulfeelings upon arrival in the country 2nd Movement: Andant molto mosso... Read review

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Advantages: Heroic fifth. Mysrterious sixth.
Disadvantages: None

...Jean Sibelius is striking for his originality and his innovative use of tonal colour in his orchestral compositions. The conductor of this recording of Symphonies Nos 5 & 6, Sir Colin Davies once said, “Nothing else sounds like Sibelius”. The music is indeed unique and distinctive. Jean Christian Sibelius, Finland's greatest composer, was born in 1865 and is best known for his seven symphonies that he wrote between 1899 and 1924. Sibelius felt that music should be pure music and that every note within the music given importance. Sibelius once commented that, “A symphony should be music first and last." His Symphonies, number 5 and 6, recorded on this CD are just that. The two symphonies contrast and compliment each other to produce a magnificence. The fifth is heroic, strong and vivid whilst the sixth is mysterious and radiant yet... Read review

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Advantages: The idee fixe. Unique and contrasting.
Disadvantages: None whatsoever.

...a different episode of his relationship with Harriet. He completed the symphony in 1830. He provided a detailed programme for the symphony with a synopsis. An artist "who sees for the first time a woman who realises the ideal of beauty and fasination that his heart has so long invoked, and falls madly in love with her". 1st Movement: Dreams / Passions. A slow introction recalls the emptiness before he met his beloved. The music leads into an obsessive love theme. The beloved is represent by an "idee fixe", a theme that recurs throughout the symphony. Berlioz wrote that this movement was to represent "frenzied passion with all its bursts of tenderness, jealousy, rage, alarm etc". 2nd Movement: A Ball. This is a delightful waltz using multiple harps.It is graceful to start but becomes more hectic as the music progresses. The "idee fixe" emerges... Read review

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