Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), the greatest composer to come out of Denmark, was an accomplished symphonist. He produced six very fine symphonies with which his name is most closely associated and of which the first four are included in this set. These symphonies date from the years 1891 to 1914 and so follow the development of the composer from a young man at the beginning of his career to a mature, established composer. Nielsen played in the second violins of the orchestra at the successful première of the First Symphony; by the time he gave the first performance of the Fourth Symphony he was its renowned and well-respected composer and conductor.