(Score). Symphony No.5 Op.50 was composed by Carl Nielsen in 1922. Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) was a Danish musician, often seen as his country s greatest composer. While his operas and songs have become embedded in the cultural heritage of his native Denmark, internationally he is better known for his symphonies and concertos distinguished by his prominent use of Brass instruments and dramatic changes in tonality. His Symphony No.5 (Op. 50, FS. 97) was composed in 1922, and is often seen as his "War Symphony", despite the composer denying any such direct influence. Strangely, it is formed of only two movements, and does not have any title. Often said to be a modernist piece, it is constantly restless, some would say pulsating. Brought to fame by Leonard Bernstein in 1962, scholars and musicians arestill trying to understand this enigmatic work.

After the death of Mahler in 1911 the great Austro-German symphonic line was carried on mainly in England, America, Scandinavia and Russia. The Fifth Symphony of Carl Nielsen, a Danish composer, was composed in 1921. David Fanning discusses its place within the symphonic tradition since Beethoven, revealing the personal background to the work and taking account of the extensive Danish commentaries, including the composer's own. In an analysis of the music he lays bare the origins of its images of inertia, anxiety and collapse in Nielsen's tone poems and incidental music for the theatre. Insights are offered into the symphony's progressive tonality and its relationship to traditional structural models.

This is the fifth volume of Carl Nielsen Studies which is an annual publication issuing from the Royal Library of Denmark, also home to the Carl Nielsen edition. These volumes provide a forum for the spectrum of historical, analytical and aesthetic approaches to the study of Nielsen's music from an international line-up of contributors. In addition, each volume features reviews and reports on current Nielsen projects and an updated Nielsen bibliography. Carl Nielsen Studies is distributed outside Scandinavia by Ashgate; distribution within Scandinavia is handled by The Royal Library, Copenhagen, PB 2149, DK 1016 K, Denmark.