The Birmingham Post liked my article on Carl Nielsen so much that they’ve let the Birmingham Mail print it too – my first appearance in the Mail. Compare and contrast both versions here:
Birmingham Post – Nielsen Article
And here’s the full-length version of the final two paragraphs:
“We’re very excited to be coming to Symphony Hall, which I’ve been to twice, and consider to be the finest concert hall in Britain” says Müller. “We’re also excited to be doing Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, because it doesn’t involve words – and as an opera orchestra, what we do here usually involves a lot of words! But we’re doing it with Nørgård and Schoenberg – a serious, substantial programme.”
And on the strength of the Royal Danish Orchestra’s performance in Saul and David, it’ll be a gripping one, too. Nielsen’s lust for life seems to have rubbed off on his old orchestra. A challenging concert? “In every man or woman there is something which, in spite of all defects and imperfections, we will like once we get to know it” writes Carl Nielsen in My Funen Childhood. Which is why the best possible birthday present to that quirky, exuberant country lad from Funen is a concert that acknowledges no musical boundaries.
Richard Bratby 