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What is your favorite snare drum improvisation in Nielsen's 5th Symphony?

I've only heard Blomstedt with the San Francisco and Vänskä's with the BBC Scottish Symhony, and of those two I kind of like the drummer from the BBC Scottish better.

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  • 1 decade ago
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    This famous snare drum improvisation can sometimes fall a bit flat if the player involved doesn't really let him or herself go. I am more often disappointed than impressed, sadly. Nielsen's precise instruction is for the player to attempt to disrupt the music as much as possible - something many fail even to get close to. The San Francisco version isn't bad, but still doesn't REALLY sound very disruptive.

    A pretty good one is the snare drummer in the old 1960s recording by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

    However, the one that wins hands down for me comes from perhaps an unlikely source. It's the recording on Naxos by Adrian Leaper and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. The Irish snare drum player really goes to town with rim-shots and a host of other devices that really do sound like they could knock the orchestra out of step. Simply the most disruptive Nielsen 5 cadenza I have heard.

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