What unnecessary performances these are. They aren’t bad, exactly, and I’m sure that if you had attended the concert you would have found them enjoyable. Still, it’s clear that they can’t compete with the best of the competition in Nielsen, or even with the less than best of the competition. The Second symphony works better than the Third. Here, the first three movements have plenty of character, with a nice, punchy opening movement and a deep, dark Andante. The finale, however, sounds distinctly clunky, a fraction too slow in tempo, and engineered so as to place the strings at a distinct disadvantage as balanced against the rest of the ensemble (a general problem). It’s okay, but not great and certainly not worth preserving on disc.
The Third symphony is something of a mess. In the first movement the timpani get lost in the opening tutti for several bars. This is a pity, for the rest of the movement is very good, particularly in the ebullient central waltz-development section. However, the pastoral second movement is as absurdly fast and insensitive as it has ever been played and preserved on disc. The scherzo, perhaps the toughest movement to bring off, is a total success, while the finale again begins too quickly (and I often prefer a swifter tempo here), only to slow down as it goes. Spontaneity is all well and good, but there are elements of this performance that cross over the line of misjudgment.
The sonics in the “Espansiva” are not as ill-balanced as in “The Four Temperaments”, but it hardly matters. The LSO label is an enterprising and intelligent outlet, but I do wish that a way could be found to deal with the quality control issue. I understand the limitations of working only with limited live material, but it seems to be more of a hit and miss enterprise than it ought to be.
