Nielsen fans really are spoiled for choice. In addition to the superb recent Gilbert/NYPO cycle, we now have this remarkable series from Oramo and Stockholm. While the Swedish orchestra doesn’t have the sheer power that the New Yorkers bring to the climaxes, its playing, as in previous releases in this series, is never less than world class, and Oramo’s conducting is, if anything, even more consistently fine. The Second Symphony offers a case in point: an opening Allegro that’s truly “collerico”, and a deliciously toe-tapping, bouncy finale. The second movement is particularly tricky to carry off well, but Oramo succeeds: it sounds relaxed, “phlegmatic” as Nielsen directs, but Oramo also keeps it moving so that, taken in tandem with the Andante, we’re not overwhelmed with a dull blob of slow stuff at the symphony’s center. It’s a great performance.
So is that of the Sixth. The innocent opening heralds a first movement that rises to a really scary climax, and the rest of the symphony goes without a hitch, from the loony Humoresque to the demented waltz in the finale. Often you really aren’t conscious of the conductor’s guidance at all: the music moves as if self-propelled, and that is not an easy feat in this strange work. You may surmise from the above description that Oramo nails all of the wacky bits particularly well, but the grotesquerie never sounds gratuitously exaggerated. The performance has a rare unity and integrity. Again, it’s just about as good as it gets, and so are the sonics. A brilliant series ends brilliantly.
