Carl Nielsen - "Objektivering"

"Objektivering"

By this term Nielsen meant an aesthetic approach wherein the instruments, or the players operating them, are given leave to assert their individual intentions, as interpreted by the composer. At the time Nielsen was writing the Fifth Symphony, with its sometimes violent disruption by the snare drum, he also produced the Wind Quintet, Op. 43 for a group of wind players whom he knew well personally. He resolved to write a concerto for each man, but completed only the ones for flute and clarinet. The latter (1928) immortalizes a clarinettist known for being irascible, and uses this character as a means of commenting on the anxious world condition at the time.