# 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)
As of as of November 2024, 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

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 | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| Conductor | Orchestra | Years | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| 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 | |

## Complete Nielsen cycles: 1974–present
### Complete cycles

Complete Nielsen cycles: 1974–present :
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Years | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Years | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Edward Serov [ru] | Odense Symphony Orchestra | 1992–1995 | 36:08 | ? | 37:47 | 36:24 | 35:41 | 35:51 | [Unknown] | Kontrapunkt | |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | |
| 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 | 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 | Alan Gilbert | New York Philharmonic | 2011–2014 | 33:18 | 35:08 | 37:15 | 35:57 | 36:57 | 34:28 | Avery Fisher Hall | Dacapo | |
| 21 | John Storgårds | BBC Philharmonic | 2012–2015 | 33:20 | 33:09 | 37:57 | 35:08 | 36:00 | 35:18 | MediaCityUK | Chandos | |
| 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 | |

## Incomplete Nielsen cycles: 1962–present
### Projected cycles in progress

As of as of October 2024, 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 | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| Conductor | Orchestra | Years | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| Edward Gardner | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra | 2022– | – | – | 34:57 | 34:25 | – | – | Grieg Hall | Chandos | |

### Incomplete cycles no longer in progress

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 | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Symphony runtime | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| Conductor | Orchestra | Years | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| 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 | |
| Myung-Whun Chung | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | 1983–1989 | 33:55 | 34:11 | 37:30 | – | 33:05 | – | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS | |
| Thomas Dausgaard | Seattle Symphony | 2015–2020 | 33:00 | 30:03 | 36:34 | 34:07 | – | – | Benaroya Hall | Seattle Symphony Media | |