Fantasistykke Op.2 (1889)

Romanze

Humoresque

Written a few months later than the Suite for Strings Op.1, two or three years after the composer had graduated from the Copenhagen Conservatory, the two Fantasy Pieces Op.2 are clearly the product of the same distinctive personality. What would seem awkward with an ordinary composer is in Nielsen’s case an early indication of a developing robustness of character - like the extraordinary passage at the end of the agitated middle section of the Romanze where a piano cadenza pushes the oboe out of the way before it can reintroduce its sadly expressive main theme. Not the least entertaining aspect of Humoresque, on the other hand, is the mutually encouraging interaction of two instruments stimulated by a vigorous country-dance tune.