Four stars: Fine world premiere performances of music by Carl Nielsen, arranged for piano four hands

NIELSEN Saul og David (arr. Nielsen): Act IV Prelude, Battle Music with the Curtain Down. Symphony No. 3, “Sinfonia Espansiva” (arr. Nielsen). JØRGENSEN/NIELSEN Højby Riffle Club March (Højby Skyttemarch) (arr. Hyldig)  Rikke Sandberg, Kristoffer Hyldig (pn)  OUR RECORDINGS 8.226923 (45:44)

Espansiva: Carl Nielsen, Works for 4 Hand Piano comprises four world premiere recordings, captured in superb sound, and arrestingly performed by pianists Rikke Sandberg and Kristoffer Hyldig. In her liner notes for the new Our Recordings CD, Sandberg describes how she and Hyldig discovered in Denmark’s Royal Library Carl Nielsen’s own arrangements for piano duet of two excerpts from his opera Saul and David, as well as the entire Symphony No. 3, “Sinfonia Espansiva”. The piano/vocal score for Saul and David, arranged by Henrik Knudsen, is for the standard individual piano. But Nielsen created his own four-hand arrangements of the opera’s Act IV Prelude, and Battle Music with the Curtain Down. In his liner notes for this release, Niels Bo Foltmann comments: “There is no concrete statement from Carl Nielsen himself as to why he wished to have these two passages for four hands, but one can imagine that he felt the dramatic character of the music could be best expressed in a four-hand version, even though it is a somewhat unusual plan for a piano score that otherwise, is only for two hands. But Carl Nielsen was sure about this, and when the piano score was printed in 1903-04, it was with the two four-handed passages.” The purpose of the piano four hands version of the Symphony No. 3 is clear. Nielsen intended it as a vehicle for “to promote the symphony at home and abroad.” Foltmann refers to a performance for conductor Siegmund von Hausegger in April 1913, when the German conductor visited Nielsen in Copenhagen. A short time later, the audience for an Amsterdam performance of the piano arrangement of the “Sinfonia Espansiva” included Pablo Casals and Donald Francis Tovey. The arrangement was never published, and the only known complete score, written in pencil, is in the composer’s hand.
Rikke Sandberg comments that she and Kristofer Hyldig have played the “Espansiva” four hand arrangement numerous times in concert, and of course, for this recording. The artists have made some modifications to Nielsen’s arrangement, but “we have at no point changed anything that was not in agreement with the orchestral score and thereby the composer’s own indications.” For Sandberg and Hyldig, the arrangement has “become its own four-handed composition, rather than a copy of a symphonic work.” Sandberg and Hyldig’s experience with, and affinity for, Nielsen’s piano duet arrangement of the “Sinfonia Espansiva” are evident in this splendid recording. They play Nielsen’s music with arresting vigor, superb clarity, and supple, expressive phrasing. Sandberg and Hyldig’s grasp of the work’s ebb and flow manifests in a performance that journeys unerringly to a triumphant close. An orchestral performance incorporating Sandberg/Hyldig’s artistic vision would be a fine “Espansiva”, indeed. But the full impact of Nielsen’s “Sinfonia Espansiva” may only be experienced in its full orchestral guise. Nielsen’s remarkable instrumental palette is integral to his all-embracing musical voice. How could it be otherwise for a composer who incorporated wordless soprano and baritone vocal soloists into the orchestral fabric of the Symphony’s slow-tempo second movement? My favorite recording of the “Espansiva” remains an Audiofon release (CD72025) of a scintillating May 19, 1984 Kennedy Center performance by the Danish National Orchestra and Sixten Ehrling. Still, a superb world premiere performance of Carl Nielsen’s own arrangement of his Third Symphony makes this release self-recommending to all who love the Danish composer’s music.
The two excerpts from Saul and David are similarly impressive. To conclude the recital, Sandberg and Hyldig perform a brief march that Niels Jørgensen (Nielsen’s father) composed for the Højby Rifle Club. Carl Nielsen made a complete arrangement for piano solo of his father’s Højby Skyttemarch. Nielsen’s arrangement for piano four hands survives only in fragmentary sketches. Kristoffer Hyldig completed the piano four hand arrangement. Sandberg and Hyldig’s spirited performance of the march serves as a delightful encore to the “Espansiva”. All told, a commendable and engaging release. Recommended. Ken Meltzer 20.08.24
Four stars: Fine world premiere performances of music by Carl Nielsen, arranged for piano four hands