Oslo Quartet - Nielsen: String Quartets Volume 1 [CD]

Carl Nielsen(1865-1931)String Quartets(Complete) Volume 1String Quartet in Eflat major, Op. 14String Quartet in Fmajor, Op. 44The Danish composer Carl Nielsen was born in 1865, the son of a painterand village musician in whose band he had his earliest musical experienceplaying the violin. In 1879, after learning to play the cornet, he joined amilitary orchestra at Odense and by 1884 had been able, with the help ofsponsors, to enter the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen as a student ofthe violin, piano and music theory. After graduation in 1886 his compositionsbegan to win a hearing, with a significant success in 1888 for his LittleSuite, scored for strings. The following year he became a violinist in theroyal chapel, broadening still further his musical experience and in particularhis knowledge of the music of Wagner, a subject of serious study for him inGermany in 1890. It was here that he began the first of his six symphonies,completed in 1892. The previous year had brought a visit to Paris and a meetingwith the sculptress Anne Marie Brodersen, whom he married, travelling togetherwith her to Italy, before the couple returned to Denmark in the summer.Nielsen's work as a violinist in the royal chapel continued until 1905,when jealousies eased him out of his position. Now, however, there was agrowing demand for his services as a conductor, particularly of his own works,and in 1908 he succeeded Johan Svendsen as conductor at the Royal Theatre, aposition he held until 1914. His growing international reputation, particularlythrough his symphonies, led to invitations to conduct abroad, while at home hetook a leading part in the musical life of Denmark, teaching at the CopenhagenConservatory and later joining the governing body of that institution andserving the cause of national musical education. He died in 1931.The leading Danish composer of his generation, Nielsen left, in additionto his six remarkable symphonies, two operas, concertos for violin and forclarinet and a number of other orchestral compositions. To choral works andsongs may be added a wind quintet, which enjoys continued popularity, threeviolin sonatas, a small quantity of music for the piano, a string quintet andfive completed string quartets. The first of these last, the String Quartet inD minor, completed in 1882, remained unpublished in the composer'slifetime, while the String Quartet in G minor, Opus 13, completed in1888, was revised ten years later. The String Quartet in F minor, Opus5, was written in 1890, to be followed in 1898 by the String Quartet inE flat major, Opus 14. A work for string quartet, Piacevolezza, Opus 19,written in 1906, was revised in 1919 as the String Quartet in F major,Opus 44.The String Quartet inE flat major, Opus 14, was first performed in Copenhagen in May 1899 but thesubsequent loss of the manuscript necessitated a reconstruction, from memory,for performance in December 1900 and subsequent publication. The sonata-rondoform first movement is rich