Nielsen: Maskarade - Overture

What better way to kick off the Proms 2015 season than with this joyful overture to the opera Maskarade.

First performed in 1906, Maskarade was quickly established as the national opera of Denmark. The opening was so effective that Carl Nielsen composed his sparkling little overture especially for stand-alone performance, with its own decisive ending.

Nielsen initially delivered Maskarade – supposedly complete – to the Royal Opera, Copenhagen in 1905. One catch - the final act of the opera was unfinished. The Danish composer guessed the opera authorities wouldn’t actually read the score all that closely up to the end, so he disguised the work’s incomplete state by adding some conclusive chords at the point he had reached, and then popped in a double-barline. He got away with it. See what you think…

Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo.