Carl Nielsen.(Carl Nielsen. Complete Symphonies)(Video recording review)

Carl Nielsen. Complete Symphonies, including Karl Aage Rasmussen's documentary The Light and the Darkness: On Carl Nielsen's Life and Music. DVD. Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR / Michael Schonwandt. Recorded live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall on 2 and 4 November 2000. Copenhagen: Dacapo, 2006. 2.110403-05. $29.99.

Video recordings of concert music have always been strange animals. They remind us that--until the last century--music is as much a visual as an audio medium. Yet, unless these videos contain a legendary performance or occasion, they often lack a distinct purpose. Are consumers expected to sit in front of their television set and watch them over and over again? Are they chiefly mementos for those who attended the concerts? Are they primarily material to be used in classrooms, or are they mainly promotional material for the performers?

This three-disc Dacapo release suffers from this lack of a distinct identity. The first two discs include complete performances of the six symphonies by Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). Taken from two concerts in November 2000, these recordings by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, conducted by Michael Schonwandt, are certainly commendable. The tempos are always well chosen, the music flows well (not an easy feat in Nielsen's music), and the execution is generally first-rate. Overall, however, these performances lack the polish, clarity, warmth, and drama of the best studio recordings (including Schonwandt's own with the same orchestra), and are therefore not renditions to which this reviewer is compelled to return.

Despite my reservations about the quality of these performances, this Dacapo release might still have been valuable to many educators and libraries if the producers had taken advantage of the many possibilities offered by the DVD medium. They could, for example, have included excerpts of rehearsals, one or more audio tracks containing commentary from the conductor, scholars or orchestra members, optional subtitles that point out important themes or moments in these symphonies, or discussions of artworks that are inspired by Nielsen and his symphonies. In its current form, however, the first two discs of this DVD set contain neither transcendent performances nor great educational material.

Before moving onto the third disc, I need to briefly mention the orchestra's visual presentation. I understand that this ...