Carl Nielsen: The Inexstinguishable
Nielsen Festival 2023

The Symphony No. 4 Op. 29, composed by the Dane Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), also known as ‘The Inextinguishable’, was completed in 1916, against the backdrop of World War I. The work, which is among the most dramatic of Nielsen’s, is characterized by a final movement that represents a battle in the counterpoint of two sets of timpani. In an explanatory note, Nielsen writes: “Music is life. As soon as an isolated note resonates in space, it is the fruit of life and movement. This symphony describes the most primitive sources of the vital flow and what touches the human being. Music is life and, like it, is inextinguishable”. The present program, which begins with the symphonic poem ‘Pan and Syrinx’, composed in 1918, based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses and with a noticeable Debussy influence, also includes the Clarinet Concerto Op. 57, written in 1928. Set in a single long movement, with four thematic groups, this work was conceived when Nielsen had already achieved renown throughout Scandinavia, but also knew that his days were numbered. Perhaps this explains the bitter and permanent contrast, throughout this concert, between two opposing tonalities: F major and E major.

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