Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen)

The Symphony No. 5, Opus 50 ( first performed in Copenhagen on January 24, 1922) is regarded as symphonic masterpiece by Carl Nielsen. Of his six symphonies, it is at least structurally original ( Nielsen only two-movement symphony ) and the tonsprachlich daring. In it, the composer surpasses in ruthlessness with orchestra and audience even his already dramatically very pointed and musically harsh Fourth Symphony.

The first set takes nearly 20 minutes, which is clearly a conflict situation represents the use of a constantly repeated, march-like, rhythmically intricate and sonically on rising and falling melody, accompanied alternately interrupted by the regular, long-lasting throb of a snare drum and the whir of a clarinet or is created a threatening atmosphere and a harmonic instability. Over the entire set of distributed tutti with large percussion use on the one hand and sudden moments of tranquility on the other hand contribute to the pull of music that is moving towards multiple climaxes, first Tempo giusto, then Adagio non troppo. This first set especially therefore looks very modern, because ( a first in the music of the time ) the passage of the small drum is played in independent pace from the rest of the orchestra. The entire set takes the similarly designed the first sentence of the 7th Symphony by Shostakovich anticipated.

The second set takes about 15 minutes and represents the victorious overcoming the conflict (Allegro, Andante un poco tranquillo then ). Here the composer calls by the orchestra and its conductor, an even greater mastery of their trade, as the unusually dense instrumentation and even more harmonious indeterminacy need a particularly attentive interaction in order to preserve the legibility of the sentence. This controls after several fugal passages to a vast, optimistic coda in E Flat Major, by which the work is overweight rounded.

• Symphony
• Work of Carl Nielsen