Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996)

[Christo]

And Sibelius and Hindemith and Bartok... and he loved Haydn...

Correct. And folk music: Meta May Graf, his wife, helped him discover Romanian (she was a German speaking Romanian) and other Central-European (Hungarian a.o.) folk music in his student years and the influence of folk music is one of the vital elements throughout his long career I'd say.

[Madiel]

I found this in Youtube (it's in Danish, I guess). I don't know if someone had posted it before.

It seems an interview with this great composer and his wife:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=618aW0q3no4&t=418s

Yes, it's in Danish. If there was a transcript I'd be fine, but with spoken Danish I'm still struggling.

Still, I might try watching it. I knew it existed but I've only viewed tiny snippets. My Danish might be good enough now to get something out of it.

I also have a saved copy of a radio interview with their son, recorded about 3 years ago. In the hope that one day I'll know more of what he said!

EDIT: Of course, there are also a few native Danish speakers on the forum.

[Madiel]

I can tell you they spend a LOT of time talking about folk music, including the trip to Romania they took when they married. Also how they met while both looking at a Rembrandt picture...

They brought back a lot of stuff from Romania and had an exhibition of it.

Then he starts talking about Danish street cries (I know this partly because I know he wrote a book about them!) (oh okay, eventually they SHOW the book, hehe).

Meta talks about the photographs she takes in winter as the lake freezes. Then they talk about the massive number of trees they planted on their property.

[SymphonicAddict]

I can tell you they spend a LOT of time talking about folk music, including the trip to Romania they took when they married. Also how they met while both looking at a Rembrandt picture...

They brought back a lot of stuff from Romania and had an exhibition of it.

Then he starts talking about Danish street cries (I know this partly because I know he wrote a book about them!) (oh okay, eventually they SHOW the book, hehe).

Meta talks about the photographs she takes in winter as the lake freezes. Then they talk about the massive number of trees they planted on their property.

Very interesting information about them, so it's a more human interview and not so academic. Thanks for the info!

[krummholz]

Oh, sorry. I just saw that the Da Capo website declares the single CD to be discontinued, they're only offering it for sale as a download.

Unfortunately that's been the case for several years I think (unless they briefly revived it). I think it was around 2010 or 2011 that I went looking for the Requiem and was forced to buy the sampler. The text is certainly provided, but it's split into two at an awkward point, with a spread of "Quotes and Accolades" interpolated between the two parts.

Some of the choices seem a little strange for a "greatest hits" album - the Op. 20 concerto for flute, violin, percussion, and strings for example. I mean, I love the piece, but I wouldn't rate it as a masterpiece by any stretch.

It's definitely worth it for the Requiem though.

[krummholz]

Nos. 8 and 10 are among my favourites too (possibly even my top two), and I got them all in one go with the Hughes box.

I have a special fondness for the 10th, perhaps because I was at the world premiere in Detroit. That bleak ending is one of the most visionary things he ever composed. The 8th is a stirring, wonderful work, though I can't help feeling that some of the wilder passages in the last movement teeter on the verge of becoming unhinged.

My favorite is probably the 9th, which took me the longest to come to terms with. It's one of Holmboe's darkest works, and something of a stand-alone in terms of style, with its rather impressionistic palette of orchestral colors. Soon after the 9th, as soon as the Chamber Symphony No. 3 I think, his mellower, more diatonic (or at least less dissonant) late style starts to come to the fore, and he never went any further in the direction implied by the 9th, something I've always regretted.

[Madiel]

Yes, agree with everything you say about the 9th stylistically. It's a fabulous work once you come to grips with it.

[Mirror Image]

I need re-familiarize myself with Holmboe's music again. He's really an outstanding composer, but, goodness, there's just so much music out there and so little time.

[Karl Henning]

The good news:  Holmboe is a great "binge composer," I find.

[Mirror Image]

The good news:  Holmboe is a great "binge composer," I find.

Indeed. You listen to one work and you simply want to hear another one. I find this to be true with Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, the Second Viennese School, Mahler, among others. The key is to not overdose.

[Madiel]

The good news:  Holmboe is a great "binge composer," I find.

Well I sure know I'm prone to binges. Holmboe and Faure are my 2 great ones for that in the classical world.

Partly that's because of the length of pieces I think. Most of Holmboe's works are compact.

[Karl Henning]

Indeed. You listen to one work and you simply want to hear another one. I find this to be true with Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, the Second Viennese School, Mahler, among others. The key is to not overdose.

Aye, Safety first! 

[Mirror Image]

Aye, Safety first! 

Indeed!

[Karl Henning]

Well I sure know I'm prone to binges. Holmboe and Faure are my 2 great ones for that in the classical world.

Partly that's because of the length of pieces I think. Most of Holmboe's works are compact.

Yes.

[Zeus]

Sometimes it's just plain fun to be a collector....

I picked up these first two albums in January '17:

1) Holmboe: Concertos; Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Dima Slobodeniouk; Dacapo

[asin] B00AOALXJI[/asin]

2) Holmboe: Key Masterpieces; Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen; Dacapo

[asin] B002BW3PYS[/asin]

Then I picked up another album in Sept 17:

3) Holmboe: Chamber Music, Vol. 2; Ensemble MidtVest; Dacapo

[asin] B009F2CWJG[/asin]

And a fourth album last month (Mar 18):

4) Holmboe: Concertos, Beatus Parvo; Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Owain Arwel Hughes; BIS

[asin] B00078JW0Y[/asin]

Now I've got my eye on yet another album:

5?) Holmboe: Kairos; Camerata Wales, Hughes; BIS

[asin] B002P2SAEO[/asin]

Plus I feel a need to re-listen to the stuff I already have.  Maybe with the works in chronological order -- I always like doing that.  Not too challenging when I just have a few albums.

Holmboe certainly is an intriguing composer.  And a lot of fun to collect ! 

Hmm....  What next?  Decisions, decisions.   

[Zeus]

Change of plans....

I got this instead:

[asin] B07B6FP2QN[/asin]

It cost me just $16 when downloaded from emusic.com.  Overlaps quite a bit with my #4 above, but also replaces #5 above. Plus I think the Dacapo versions might be considered a tad better, particularly the clarinet concerto (?).

Drats, that's six* five discs to digest (I'm not a box set kinda guy).  I guess I'm pregnant now!  I hope I'll survive.   

* Kairos is repeated

[Daverz]

Change of plans....

I got this instead:

[asin] B07B6FP2QN[/asin]

It cost me just $16 when downloaded from emusic.com.  Overlaps quite a bit with my #4 above, but obviates my need for #5 above. Plus I think the Dacapo versions considered a tad better, particularly the clarinet concerto (?).

Drats, that's 6 discs to digest (I'm not a box set kinda guy).  I guess I'm pregnant now!  But somehow I'll survive.   

They are short works, and it's kind of like eating chips (crisps for those in the U.K.).  I'm predicting you'll have no trouble working thru the set.

[Zeus]

So far, so good.  And I see what you mean about short and sweet.  CC #2 sounds a lot like Hovhaness.

Update: I'm very pleased with this latest purchase (as well as replays of the earlier purchases).  It all sounds terrific -- very accessible but not trite.  Holmboe is now officially ranked "very good".

[Madiel]

Plus I think the Dacapo versions considered a tad better, particularly the clarinet concerto (?).

My comparisons are somewhere in this thread. For me, the clarinet concerto (#3) is where Dacapo is a clear winner over BIS. I also like Dacapo in #8.

Elsewhere I tend to prefer the BIS series, but the BIS series only covers 7 out of the 13 concertos.

[Karl Henning]

[snip]

Tangentially . . . on the Wikipedia page of his list of works . . . (and maybe you addressed this erewhile, and I was inattentive, sorry).

We read, e.g.:

194 | 73a | Sinfonia I | 1957 | Orchestral | The four parts of Op. 73 can be played separately or combined into a single work, Kairos.

Did I mistake, when forming an impression that, in fact, Kairos consists in a later-composed Preludio, two Interludi, and Postludio, which can either be played commingled with the Sinfonias I - III, or played together as Sinfonia IV (Kairos)?

That is, is the table wrong in this remark?