The adjective most commentators turn to when describing the six symphonies of Carl Nielsen is “quirky.” Certainly, the great Danish composer had a wicked sense of humor and loved poking fun at anything pompous and pretentious — including the conventions of writing a symphony. Just when the audience members think they know what is going to happen next — or should, in a conventional symphony — Nielsen delighted in throwing them a curveball.
For example, as any seasoned concertgoer knows, in most cases when the strings start playing what sounds like a fugue theme, you have a reasonable expectation that the end must be near.
But in Nielsen’s last symphony, his Sixth, titled Sinfonia semplice or A Simple Symphony, which premiered in Copenhagen on today’s date in 1925, all sorts of crazy things happen in the last movement. And, since everyone knows the bassoon is supposed to be “the clown of the orchestra,” Nielsen’s parting shot is to give that instrument the last word — deflating any lofty expectations of a grand Romantic symphonic finale with what most politely could be described as giving that idea the raspberries.
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) – Symphony No. 6 (Sinfonia Semplice); San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, cond. Decca 425 607