Carl Nielsen Commotio (1931) orchestrated by Bo Holten (2000) for symphony orchestra Dur. 24'
PERFORMANCE NOTES The orchestration of Commotio (1931) arose out of a frustration. Listening to many performances over the years, and several very good ones at that, it always struck me that the piece was somehow too “big” for the organ.....or too “symphonic”. Even the very best and penetrating performances on the organ did not, to me, fully convey the many beauties and subtleties of this enormous outburst of polyphonic vitality. It always seemed to me that Commotio suffered from being written for the organ. A kind of claustrophobic feeling occurred when all this exquisite musical information tried to expand itself out of its organ-shell. Besides, the piece usually seemed overlong, and I had a feeling that an orchestration might overcome this hurdle. I also longed for really getting to know this towering masterpiece in all its power. So in the year 2000 I devoted 5 months to orchestrating Nielsen’s Commotio, his last grand effort. I did not try to force my own orchestration style onto this work, but was constantly looking at the orchestration in Nielsen’s 6th Symphony and his Clarinet Concerto to emulate the characteristic Nielsen “sound”. As he might himself have orchestrated the piece. The result, to me, might tentatively be called: Nielsen: Symphony No. 7 (Commotio). Bo Holten