youtu.be/niF6Y7ZNqys Symphony No. 4 The Inextinguishable, Op. 29 was written by Danish composer Carl Nielsen, was completed in 1916. Composed against the backdrop of the First World War, this symphony is among the most dramatic that Nielsen wrote, featuring a battle between two sets of timpani. Inextinguishable does not apply to the symphony itself, but rather to that which is inextinguishable. In his notes for the symphony, Nielsen refers to the elemental will to live (inextinguishable is not an exact translation of uudslukkelige, which itself suggests the life-force). The Symphonys four movements are played without breaks, this is called attacca subito. The first movement begins with a fierce tutti pitting D minor against its flat seventh, C, in an almost antiphonal manner. After the tutti, the clarinets introduce in A major the lyrical theme that will culminate the work. The second movement, for woodwind in G major, is more an intermezzo than the expected adagio. This function is fulfilled by the third movement, which opens with a cantilena from unison violins, then builds to a climax before concluding with a single oboe playing over trills in the upper strings. The clashes of the first movement reappear in the final movement, in which two sets of timpani duel from either side of the orchestra. This passage unusually calls on the two timpanists to change the pitch of the timpani while playing. At the very end E major emerges as the key to conclude the work.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:56:23 +0000
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