Discography of Nielsen symphony cycles

The Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) was one of the most important symphonists of the early twentieth century: his six symphonies, written between 1892 and 1925, are the core of his oeuvre. Many of classical music's conductor–orchestra partnerships have recorded the complete set, colloquially known as the "Nielsen cycle". Specifically, the standard cycle includes:

• Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 7; FS 16 (1892)
• Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments (De fire Temperamenter), Op. 16; FS 29 (1902)
• Symphony No. 3, Sinfonia espansiva, Op. 27; FS 60 (1911)
• Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable (Det Uudslukkelige), Op. 29; FS 76 (1916)
• Symphony No. 5, Op. 50; FS 97 (1922)
• Symphony No. 6, Sinfonia semplice, FS 116 (1925)

Nielsen (left) composed six symphonies from 1892–1925. In 1974, the conductor Herbert Blomstedt (right) and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra completed one of the first recorded Nielsen cycles.

As of as of November 2024^[update], the Nielsen cycle been recorded 22 times. The most recently completed cycle, finished in 2022, is by Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra; an additional projected twenty-third cycle is in progress, according to press releases. Two conductors have tackled the project more than once: Herbert Blomstedt (1974, 1989) and Michael Schønwandt (2000, 2000) recorded the Nielsen cycle two times. Among ensembles, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra has recorded the cycle a record four times.

Precursors

The Danish conductor Thomas Jensen pioneered an unofficial Nielsen cycle via piecemeal recordings from 1947–1959

Several Danish conductors associated with Danish Radio performed Nielsen's symphonies. Most notably, Thomas Jensen recorded the complete cycle with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1947 to 1959: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5 for Decca, No. 6 for Tono (Mercury in the U.S., World Record Club in the U.K.), and No. 2 for His Master's Voice (UK), as well as live broadcast recordings of Nos. 3 and 4. These have since been collected into an informal Nielsen cycle and re-released by Danacord.

Complete Nielsen cycles: 1974–present

Conductor	Orchestra	Years[a]	Symphony runtime[b]						Recording venue	Label	Ref.
			1	2	3	4	5	6
Thomas Jensen	Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra	1947–1959	32:52	31:05	34:51	33:16	33:30	32:44	Danish Radio Concert Hall	Danacord	[1]

Complete Nielsen cycles: 1974–present

Complete cycles

Complete Nielsen cycles: 1974–present

No.	Conductor	Orchestra	Years[a]	Symphony runtime[b]						Recording venue	Label	Ref.
				1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Ole Schmidt	London Symphony Orchestra (1)	1973–1974	34:34	31:55	38:26	34:02	35:43	35:02	Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate	Unicorn, Regis	[2]
2	Herbert Blomstedt (1)	Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra (1)	1973–1974	35:52	33:46	35:58	34:09	35:35	35:12	Danish Radio Concert Hall	EMI Classics, Warner Classics	[3]
3	Paavo Berglund	Royal Danish Orchestra	1987–1989	31:28	32:12	35:23	33:11	36:35	32:41	Odd Fellows Hall	RCA Red Seal	[4]
4	Herbert Blomstedt (2)	San Francisco Symphony	1987–1989	32:57	32:21	35:23	36:13	35:34	34:01	Davies Symphony Hall	Decca	[5]
5	Esa-Pekka Salonen	Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra	1986–1990	32:21	32:27	37:57	36:07	36:52	32:19	Berwald Hall	CBS Masterworks, Sony Classical	[6]
6	Bryden Thomson	Royal Scottish National Orchestra	1989–1991	32:10	30:15	36:18	35:41	35:02	33:48	Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow (1–2) Glasgow City Halls (3, 5) Caird Hall (4, 6)	Chandos	[7]
7	Neeme Järvi	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	1990–1992	30:20	32:38	37:43	33:56	33:54	32:26	Gothenburg Concert Hall	Deutsche Grammophon	[8]
8	Gennady Rozhdestvensky	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (1)	1992–1994	37:01	35:32	42:02	37:04	36:45	34:52	Stockholm Concert Hall	Chandos	[9]
9	Adrian Leaper	National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland	1992–1994	33:08	32:23	35:51	36:28	37:04	34:25	National Concert Hall	Naxos	[10]
10	Edward Serov [ru]	Odense Symphony Orchestra	1992–1995	36:08	?	37:47	36:24	35:41	35:51	[Unknown][c]	Kontrapunkt	[11]
11	Michael Schønwandt (1)	Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (2)	1999–2000	34:00	33:55	37:16	36:28	38:21	34:34	Danish Radio Concert Hall	Dacapo, Naxos	[12]
12	Michael Schønwandt (2)	Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (3)	2000–2000	33:30	34:45	37:55	35:59	37:39	36:50	Danish Radio Concert Hall	Dacapo	[13]
13	Jukka-Pekka Saraste	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra	1997–2001	31:06	32:10	36:22	36:37	34:48	31:37	Sibelius Hall (1–2) Kulttuuritalo (3–6)	Finlandia	[14]
14	Douglas Bostock	Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra	1999–2001	31:21	31:19	35:40	34:45	33:11	33:33	Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool	Classico	[15]
15	Osmo Vänskä	BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra	1999–2002	35:45	33:41	36:14	35:31	36:40	33:44	Glasgow City Halls	BIS	[16]
16	Theodore Kuchar	Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra	2005–2005	33:11	32:06	36:49	34:00	34:40	34:48	Janáček Hall [cs]	Brilliant Classics	[17]
17	Sir Colin Davis	London Symphony Orchestra (2)	2009–2011	33:20	31:54	34:41	31:21	35:17	34:51	Barbican Centre	LSO Live[d]	[18]
18	Paavo Järvi	Frankfurt Radio Symphony	2009–2013	33:59	33:39	37:19	35:00	37:03	33:16	Friedrich-von-Thiersch-Saal, Wiesbaden Kurhaus (1) Großer Saal, Alte Oper (2–6)	RCA Red Seal	[19]
19	Sakari Oramo	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (2)	2012–2014	33:50	31:21	37:48	35:15	33:50	32:32	Stockholm Concert Hall	BIS	[20]
20	Alan Gilbert	New York Philharmonic	2011–2014	33:18	35:08	37:15	35:57	36:57	34:28	Avery Fisher Hall	Dacapo	[21]
21	John Storgårds	BBC Philharmonic	2012–2015	33:20	33:09	37:57	35:08	36:00	35:18	MediaCityUK	Chandos	[22]
22	Fabio Luisi	Danish National Symphony Orchestra (4)	2019–2022	33:51	34:56	39:22	36:31	35:45	35:38	DR Koncerthuset	Deutsche Grammophon	[23]

Incomplete Nielsen cycles: 1962–present

Projected cycles in progress

As of as of October 2024^[update], there is one new Nielsen cycle in progress, by Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Once completed, this will be a record fourth Nielsen cycle for Chandos.

Incomplete cycles no longer in progress

Conductor	Orchestra	Years[a]	Symphony runtime[b]						Recording venue	Label	Ref.
			1	2	3	4	5	6
Edward Gardner	Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra	2022–	–	–	34:57	34:25	–	–	Grieg Hall	Chandos	[24]

Incomplete cycles no longer in progress

Leonard Bernstein recorded the four middle Nielsen symphonies, omitting bookends Nos. 1 and 6.

In addition to the 22 completed Nielsen cycles, there are a number of incomplete traversals available to the public. The sortable table below includes these incomplete cycles for which a conductor recorded with the same orchestra at least three of the six symphonies:

Incomplete cycles no longer in progress

Conductor	Orchestra	Years[a]	Symphony runtime[b]						Recording venue	Label	Ref.
			1	2	3	4	5	6
Leonard Bernstein	New York Philharmonic	1962–1973	–	34:36	37:21	40:10	33:13	–	CBS 30th Street Studio (2) Odd Fellows Hall (3) Avery Fisher Hall (4) Manhattan Center (5)	Sony Classical[e]	[25]
Myung-Whun Chung	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	1983–1989	33:55	34:11	37:30	–	33:05	–	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS[f]	[26]
Thomas Dausgaard[g]	Seattle Symphony	2015–2020	33:00	30:03	36:34	34:07	–	–	Benaroya Hall	Seattle Symphony Media[d]	[28]