In the years just before the First World War Nielsen was at the height of his powers. His Second Symphony (‘The Four Temperaments’) had been well received, and its successors, especially this Sinfonia espansiva and the Violin Concerto composed around the same time (1910–11), are among his most ebullient, extrovert and vigorous works. His irresistible sense of mischief, which reached its apogee in the Fifth Symphony's outrageously subversive side drum, is already evident in the first movement of No.3 with its shifting, seasick accents, tossing the listener to and fro. Though ‘The Four Temperaments’ was for long Nielsen's most popular symphony in Denmark, the musical language of Espansiva is far more original and characteristic, setting the stamp of his individuality firmly on the musical map and pointing the way towards his much more disturbing Fourth Symphony (‘The Inextinguishable’). As an additional curiosity there are two wordless solo voices (soprano and baritone) towards the end of the gentle second movement, contributing to the symphony's charm and piquancy.

sources

A  Autograph score, Stichvorlage for E, long thought lost but rediscovered in 2000 in the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Leipzig; viewable online through CNW (Catalogue of Carl Nielsen's Works)

E,P  First edition of score and parts, published by C.F. Kahnt in 1913

M  Miniature score, published by Engstrom & Sodring in 1968 with a short Revisionsbericht (in Danish only) detailing seven corrections marked * below

A shows many pencil revisions, but is nevertheless far from the final text (for example in A 1.Fl takes Picc in I 138, so 1113 is 2.Fl, and 142–7, 213 are played by 2.3.Fls), so further emendations were evidently made in the proofs of E. However, neither is this the end of the story, for to a great extent E resembles A; many details were supplied or finalised only in P. P includes bowings and fingerings, and has significant differences often superior to E, so evidently derives from an independent authentic source, though P also has many errors where E is correct.