By MS65515
02-Jul-2011

Authentic Nielsen  

I had heard lots of good things about this legendary recording but never expected that I would ever stumble upon it as a bargain download. The performance is fast, taut and thrilling, far more so than Blomstedt or anyone else I've ever heard, and the sound is not a drawback at all, if anything it adds to the excitement because it's a touch raw and sharp, no plush velvet from Karajan's Berliners here! This suits the music perfectly, as you can hear every strand of Nielsen's polyphony. One can only marvel at the incandescence of this performance; Grondahl must have known Nielsen and was certainly aware of the Danish way of performing this music.

Fresh, bracing, volcanic... all those apparent cliches about Nielsen's 4th actually emerge here totally unbridled. It's so good it should probably carry a health warning on the lines of "If this doesn't shake you and wake you, you're probably dead!" Invigorating in the extreme; now even Blomstedt seems polite! And at the ClassicsOnline price of £1.99 it's the ultimate bargain. Totally recommended without any reservations whatsoever.
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