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Donald Macleod explores the composer's relationship with the Danish capital as a student, jobbing violinist, triumphant composer and disheartened conductor.

Donald Macleod traces the course of Nielsen's relationship with the Danish capital, Copenhagen, as a student, jobbing violinist, triumphant composer and disheartened conductor

When the sculptor Anne-Marie Nielsen created a monument to her husband, the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, she said she had wanted to capture "the forward movement, the sense of life, the fact that nothing stands still" in his work. From his early years in the woods and fields of Fyn, to his life in Copenhagen, and years of restless travel and touring beyond, Donald Macleod traces the evolution of a composer determined to forge his own path.

When Nielsen arrived in Copenhagen as a student in 1884, the atmosphere in the city was sturdily optimistic. Donald Macleod traces the course of Nielsen's relationship with the Danish capital, Copenhagen, where he was at first thrilled by the opportunities and the new musical horizons it opened up to him. But over time, as conductor of the Royal Theatre Orchestra, and as a composer pushing against the German domination of music, he would experience a series of bitter disappointments, eventually finding the city stifling, and longing to escape.

1 hour

Last on

Tue 27 Oct 2015 18:30

Music Played

  • Carl Nielsen

    Saul Og David - Op 25 - Prelude

    Performer: Swedish R S O. Conductor: Esa鈥怭ekka Salonen.
    • SONY : SK-53276.
    • SONY.
    • 1.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Sonata No 1 In A Major Op 9 - mvt iii

    Performer: Georgios Demertzis. Performer: Maria Asteriadou.
    • BIS : CD-1284.
    • BIS.
    • 3.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Maskarade - extract end act i

    Orchestra: Danish National Orchestra. Conductor: John Frandsen.
    • Unicorn Kanchana DKPCD 9073/4.
    • Unicorn Kanchana.
    • 8.
  • Carl Nielsen

    First Symphony

    Conductor: Neeme J盲rvi. Orchestra: Gothenburg S O..
    • DG : 437-507-2.
    • DG.
    • 1.

Broadcasts

  • Tue 27 Oct 2015 12:00
  • Tue 27 Oct 2015 18:30

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