04. - 05. Carl Nielsen - Symphony No.5, op.50 [33'05]
Dong-Suk Kang- violin*, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung
BIS CD-370 (recorded May 1987; digital download)
(flac and scans)
Recording venue: Gothenburg Concert Hall
Recording engineer: Michael Bergek; Producer: Lennart Dehn
I started collecting this series of Nielsen symphonies and concertos as discs were originally released but when it finished before being completed, with Chung's departure from Gothenburg, I rather forgot all about them. Re-hearing this disc recently, I realised just how fine this Symphony No.5 is and it's regrettable that Symphonies No.4 & No.6 were never recorded with Chung conducting. (This BIS series with the Gothenburg Symphony was subsequently completed with Nos.4 & 6 conducted by Neeme Jarvi - a recording shared with DG.)
BIS have, of course, more recently completed their series of the symphonies with Sakari Oramo conducting the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and that is probably the finest all-round series but I still like this recording of No.5 very much and the recorded sound remains outstanding.
The performance of the Violin Concerto with Dong-Suk Kang is also very fine but can't match the recent Vilde Frang or Cecilia Zilliacus recordings. But in both works, as for Sibelius, the Gothenburg Symphony of the time are revealed as the ideal orchestra for Nielsen.