# Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 "The Inextinguishable" "In case all the world was devastated... then nature would still begin to breed new life again, begin to push forward again... These forces, which are '_inextinguishable_,' I have tried to represent." Although Carl Nielsen already settled on this theme by 1914, these words must have taken new urgency as he completed his symphony in 1916, in the midst of the devastation of World War I. In a letter to his wife, he described his vision for the symphony: "everything that moves, that wants to live ... just life and motion, though varied – very varied – yet connected, and as if constantly on the move, in one big movement or stream." The symphony teems with life. The vigorous opening overflows with uncontrollable energy. New ideas tumble over themselves breathlessly; woodwind pastoralia is interrupted by exuberant brass; sharp angles in pizzicato are punctured by staccato volleys of repeated notes in the low strings (a Nielsen hallmark); the entire movement is vivid with contrast, energy, and imagination. Then, almost as if zooming the camera in, the second movement brings us from an epic to a miniature scale. Solo woodwinds dance a quadrille, giving us time to forget the size of the orchestra—a contrast that sets the conditions for a single high note in the violins, when they finally return in the third movement, to feel like an electric current. The final movement features dueling timpani set on opposite sides of the stage. Nielsen saw opposition and conflict as an essential creative force: "There must be conflict so that we may have clarity." A cathartic, cascading theme returns from the first movement to lead us to a bright finale, radiant and clear.