Symphony No. 2

Fascinated with the translating of human emotions into music, while also recalling rustic images seen long before at a country inn, Nielsen’s Second Symphony evokes those “four temperaments”—choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine—from antiquity in an integrated structure. Premiered in Copenhagen on 1 December 1902, the symphony gradually became one of Nielsen’s most performed works during his lifetime. The opening “Allegro collerico” contrasts impetuous and ardent themes in purposeful development before a heightened reprise and dramatic coda. Next comes “Allegro commodo e flemmatico”, conjuring up a carefree youth whose reverie is momentarily disturbed by a barrel rolling off the quayside. The “Andante malincolico” centres on an eloquent theme, twice building to passionate climaxes separated by a pastoral interlude of winsome charm. Finally, the “Allegro sanguineo” imagines someone whose thoughtless disposition is stopped short in a moment of reckoning before going on their way with renewed confidence.