Ole Schmidt (conductor)
London Symphony Orchestra
Alto ALC2505
Two superb performances – Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony from 1989 and a brand-new release from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi – burnish Nielsen’s exhilarating score withbetween power cuts during the three-day week in London in 1974, giving the performances an urgency that more pampered recordings lack. The string sound is sometimes thin and ragged and the brass can be too prominent, but the overall impression is of an orchestra thrilled to be discovering this music with a Danish conductor steeped in Nielsen. Originally on Unicorn Kanchana, it’s been remastered and reissued by Alto, with improvements in balance and clarity.
