Nielsens No. 4

Nielsen: Helios Overture

Every morning, Helios, the Greek sun god, would set off on his journey across the heavens in his golden chariot, drawn by four stallions, the rays of the sun radiating from his jewel-encrusted golden helmet.

Carl Nielsen composed the Helios Overture during a stay in Athens, where his wife Anne Marie was studying Greek art. Just like Richard Strauss’ famous sunrise prelude to Also sprach Zarathustra, the Helios Overture begins with a single drawn-out chord on the low strings. On the score, Nielsen wrote: "Silence and darkness. The sun rises with a joyous song of praise. It wanders its golden way and sinks quietly into the sea."

Bartók: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra

“In all likelihood, some passages will prove to be uncomfortable or unplayable,” wrote Bela Bartók in a letter to his client, the Scottish violist William Primrose. He went on to explain that the sketch of the concerto was almost complete, only requiring a little further “mechanical labour”. Shortly after, Bartók died of leukaemia at the age of 64. The concerto is considered to be his final work.

His student and countryman Tibor Serly (1901-1978) took it upon himself to complete the work, although this proved to be far from simple mechanical labour; in fact, the score was a mess. Bartók had composed on loose sheets of unpaginated note paper, often containing other sketches. The task of compiling the concerto took Serly three years and it was not until 2 December 1949 that it was finally performed, over four years after the composer’s death. The work consists of three continuous movements, beginning with a sedate viola theme that succeeds in being both melancholy and eerie. The second movement starts in prayer and contemplation before growing in intensity. Although the finale requires a technical tour-de-force of the soloist, they are granted a few brief respites in the form of beautiful orchestral interplay with just a touch of nostalgia.

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4

Nielsen composed his fourth symphony The Inextinguishable, during the First World War, its title a reference to music as the expression of the will to life – a feeling that was highly relevant amid the reports of poison gas attacks and the hopeless trench warfare being conducted on the battlefields of Europe. Barely two minutes into the first movement, after the violent prelude, a beautiful and sad theme is introduced on the clarinets, so often associated with joie de vivre. The finale contains a famous and spectacular dual between the timpanists, which the rest of the orchestra desperately attempts to break through. When they succeed, the work arrives at a warm sense of triumph and reconciliation.