Composed over a period of forty years, these compositions offer an exemplary overview of a substantial part of Nielsen’s overall musical development. Nielsen himself was very much taken with the individual sound of the various wind instruments and the possibilities offered by their playing technique.

In these pieces we hear both the simplicity and folk tradition conveying themselves in Nielsen’s more than 250 songs as well as the grand format demonstrated exemplarily in the expansive and mighty expressive will of his six symphonies. Moreover, these are very catchy compositions presented in an entertaining style. This is the first time that they have been brought together in such completeness in recorded form.