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- Title
'TONALITY, CLARITY, STRENGTH': GESTURE, FORM, AND NORDIC IDENTITY IN CARL NIELSEN'S PIANO MUSIC.
- Authors
Grimley, Daniel M.
- Abstract
Identifying elements of a Nordic subjectivity in the music of Carl Nielsen is a complex exercise. As Naomi Cumming has observed, we construct musical subjectivity in multiple ways, some of which we perceive as a 'composer's voice.' But musical identity is properly a tension between compositional process, reception, and historical context. Carl Nielsen's piano music has been less widely acknowledged outside Denmark than his symphonies, but offers a compelling case study in the formation of musical subjectivity. His piano works employ a diverse range of different compositional strategies, from stylized neo-Baroque textures to angular modernist dissonance and the carnivalesque juxtaposition of different musical characters or voices. The critical reception of his piano music reveals interesting trends in the construction of a Danish musical style. This essay presents a general survey of his major piano works, from the Symphonic Suite to the posthumous Three Piano Pieces, and seeks to place them in their European historical context.
- Subjects
DENMARK; NIELSEN, Carl, 1865-1931; COMPOSERS; PIANO music; SYMPHONY; DISSONANCE (Music theory)
- Publication
Music & Letters, 2005, Vol 86, Issue 2, p202
- ISSN
0027-4224
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/ml/gci033