Carl Nielsen

Nielsen's Third Symphony adds wordless soprano and baritone voices to its second movement. They become part of the orchestral sound rather than narrators of a text. The vigorous opening movement, broad slow movement,...

Nielsen joined the four sections of this symphony into an uninterrupted span. It was written during the First World War, but its subtitle describes the persistence of life rather than a sequence of battle scenes. Two...

Nielsen's Fifth creates a drama of opposing musical forces within two large movements. The side drummer is at one point instructed to play as though trying to disrupt the rest of the orchestra, making conflict an...