Inspiration - from Nielsen to Tippet

Inspiration for what to hear can comme from many different places. A couple of days ago our clock-radio woke us by playing the middle movement of Little Suite for Strings by Carl Nielsen. It is a wonderfully light swirling and airy waltz that could only be the start of a beautiful sunny day. 

I had to hear the complete suite the same evening. It was a fresh sounding but quite old Danish recording with Carl Garaguly leading the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra from Copenhagen. A very good recording and a fine piece of music. The old LP (TF 121) is from the somewhat unexpected label Fona (a Danish company, today a chain of Radio/TV shops). On the same LP is another recording of the 2.symphony by Carl Nielsen I totally forgot when listing my recordings of the symphonies some days ago.

The Little Suite is Carl Nielsens opus 1 and composed 1883 when he was 18 years old. It is a charming and deligthful piece with promisses for things to come.

Hearing the Little Suite got the inspirations flowing and I remembered the Little Music for String Orchestra by Michael Tippet. Back to the shelves to find the 1972 recording with Neville Marriner conducting Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields. It is on side two of an Argo LP (ZRG 680) together with Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli. The Little Music is a more strict and strong piece of music than the Nielsen Suite, but it was very interesting to compare the two. The very young Nielsen had already found some of the style that would later come into full bloom for the mature artist. The experienced Tippet was in 1946 at the start of a new style - still a little stiff but leading to the high point later in The Midsummer Marriage (well, yes - I have also got that in the first complete recording with Colin Davis and Covent Garden. This was my introduction to Tippet, and the start of a fine little collection - and fascination). On side one of the recording is the Concerto for Double String Orchestra from 1938-39. This is a masterpiece from the first period of Tippets compositional styles. That recording must get som playing time one of the next days.

But I must admit - the Corelli Fantasia from 1953 is the wonderful jewel compared to Little Music. It is a complex, beautiful and very interesting piece of music. The grand fugue in the 5.part of the Fantasia is nothing but a breathtaking masterpiece. Many years has passed since I last heard this piece, but the magic struck with full power already during the build-up to the fugue - I knew precisely what was comming and it was even better than I remembered. Marvelous! And the Denon headphones made it shine in full glory. For me they are perfect for all the types of classical I have heard on them, and they still grow better with more hours of playing time.