It is always with a very special pleasure that we present music by Carl Nielsen in our beautiful concert hall's Carl Nielsen Hall. And from the first chord kicks in, and Symphony No. 1 begins in “proud and cheerful” fashion (Nielsen loved obscure, Italian tempo designations – this one is “allegro orgoglioso”), we hear a 27-year-old, up-and-coming composer who has already solid take on the symphonic genre. He had begun work on the work while in the early 1890s on a grant-funded study tour around Europe and had become familiar with the "great music controversy", which required a young composer to decide whether he wanted to be "classicist" (like Brahms) or "new German" (like Wagner). And he had chosen a completely third path – of which the first symphony is unmistakable proof. Here there is an abundance of Danish tonal language, Beethovenian rhythmic processing of themes, and the special "progressive tonality" - ending in a different key than we started in - which also became one of Nielsen's hallmarks. Audiences widened their eyes when an unknown member of the second violin group stood and bowed after the premiere in 1894 – but once they found out who the elusive violinist was, he had to return and receive applause no less than three times.

Oleg Shebata-Dragan

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Past events

May 24, 2024

2024 NIELSEN’S 1st & MOZART’S CLARINET CONCERT · Odense Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Clarinet in Clarinet Concerto by Mozart

Odense Symphony Orchestra

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