Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996)

Started by Guido, March 18, 2009, 06:25:12 AM

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calyptorhynchus

I don't know why it is that everyone seems to think they can denigrate Pettersson, in a much ruder way than they would anyone else. I guess it's just that he depicts a particular way of feeling the agony of modernity (literally in his case) and many people feel uncomfortable about this.

As for me I bought the CPO boxed set of the symphonies a few years ago and have loved his works ever since; I think if you can depict existential experience in such a stark, raw way this is a kind of victory over the pain.

Pretty different from Holmboe's modus operandi though!
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Madiel

I did another entry, of the music for brass which is an area that I personally definitely want to explore and haven't yet. Holmboe's brass writing in works like the symphonies really stands out to me.

I don't actually have much instrumental music to go. There are works for guitar, recorder, piano, organ and accordion.  Then there's choral music, and there won't be much left then - there's a fair bit left to record, which might be a blog post in itself (biggest wishlist item: more accompanied choral works!)
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Daverz

eClassical deal of the day is Holmboe's String Sinfonias:

http://www.eclassical.com/pages/daily-deal.html?cache=purge

[asin]B002P2SAEO[/asin]

Archaic Torso of Apollo

Quote from: vandermolen on March 07, 2015, 12:37:20 AM
I never agreed with Robert Layton's snooty remarks about Pettersson.

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on March 07, 2015, 01:35:09 AM
I don't know why it is that everyone seems to think they can denigrate Pettersson, in a much ruder way than they would anyone else. I guess it's just that he depicts a particular way of feeling the agony of modernity (literally in his case) and many people feel uncomfortable about this.

Interesting remarks. Initially I liked Pettersson, then I hated him, now I'm back to liking him, with some qualifications. I do think the in-yer-face pain and suffering in his music is what puts people off. I had to learn to appreciate it from a more aesthetically grounded standpoint in order to engage positively with his work again.
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

Madiel

Did a few more entries. One on piano music (when is anyone going to have a crack at the later works?).

One on music for organ or accordion. Because, well, you know, let's just through "odd keyboards" together.

And one on guitar and recorder because Holmboe did actually use them together and combining them in the discography made things slightly easier.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

calyptorhynchus

Of course Orfeo's discography  has made me realise there is another disc I 'can't' do without. Just downloading the Dacapo Chamber Works 2 disc.

;)
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Madiel

Of course!

Just popping in right as you say that to announce two more entries done.

1. An entry for solo vocal music, which is woefully under-represented.

2. An entry for the great choral collection Liber Canticorum, certain bits of which are quite well represented in the catalogue! This was another entry that was fairly complex. But I know calyptorhynchus is fine, he's already got the whole thing.

Not actually that much left to go. The other choral works are the big chunk still left to deal with. I think there's a stray or two after that.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

The madness is very nearly at an end...

The choral works with orchestra got their own, sadly rather small, entry.

And then all the other choral works got put in one rather large, hard to organise entry. The most useful stuff is at the top, but then comes all the bits and pieces that you're most unlikely to ever find. Self-released LPs. School choirs. The scary thing is that I can verify almost all of it is out there somewhere, buried in Danish city libraries and the like.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Right. Finished. Can I get on with my life now... :D

A very small entry for Stage music because there's only one relevant recording.

And then it's all over until there are more recordings, preferably something from this list! Accompanied works for choir, please.

Any questions, mistakes or, heaven forbid, omissions, do let me know in some way. I really want to maintain/update this as a quality resource.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Hello, you might have noticed I haven't been posting. This has been because I'm travelling.

Right now I'm in Copenhagen. Guess who raided a couple of CD shops this morning, gasping in delight at the sheer number of Holmboe CDs available?
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Christo

Quote from: orfeo on April 27, 2015, 08:44:30 AM
Hello, you might have noticed I haven't been posting. This has been because I'm travelling.

Right now I'm in Copenhagen. Guess who raided a couple of CD shops this morning, gasping in delight at the sheer number of Holmboe CDs available?

Tell us. #who?  :)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

The new erato

The suspense is killing me as well.

Madiel

Ha.

At Copenhagen Airport now, flush with Holmboe booty. Will post the list from my PC rather than struggling with my iPhone.

Hot titbit, though: Da Capo are looking at recording the symphonies, creating competition with the BIS set. Planning stages only, I understand, but something to look forward to.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

calyptorhynchus

It's good news about the Da Capo recordings of the symphonies. I'll look forward to hearing them. I find it extraordinary that a composer of Holmboe's stature only has one recording of most of his symphonies. There are more recordings of the some of the Havergal Brian symphonies than Holmboe's.

Having said that I recently listened on YouTube to Jerzy Semkow conducting the Royal Danish Orchestra in the Symphony No.8 (an LP that never got issued as a CD). I then listened to the Bis recording and was mildly perplexed when I found they sounded quite similar. Perhaps Homlboe's music doesn't lend itself to 'interpretations'?

Hope Da Capo also look at the unrecorded works too, particularly (my choices from the Unrecorded Works section of Orfeo's discography).

Opus 82: Sonata for solo double bass
Opus 137: Trio for clarinet, cello and piano
Opus 165: String Quintet
Opus 195: Concerto for string quartet and orchestra
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Madiel

#376
Quote from: calyptorhynchus on April 29, 2015, 04:32:10 PM
Hope Da Capo also look at the unrecorded works too, particularly (my choices from the Unrecorded Works section of Orfeo's discography).

Opus 82: Sonata for solo double bass
Opus 137: Trio for clarinet, cello and piano
Opus 165: String Quintet
Opus 195: Concerto for string quartet and orchestra

My own special request is that they get onto the accompanied choral music.  There's a whole pile of interesting looking works there.

Opus 62: Træet (The Tree) - chamber orchestra
Opus 74: Skoven (The Forest) - orchestra
Opus 134: Ordet (The Word) - brass and organ
Opus 150: Bibelsk Kantate (Biblical Cantata) - brass and strings
Opus 161: Ode til sjælen (Ode to the soul) - brass and organ
Opus 183: Die Erfüllung (The Fulfilment) - woodwinds and brass

EDIT: I've just realised I said much the same thing last year. I'm just neater in my presentation now! There's a definitely a CDs worth there, as many of them are multi-movement pieces that are fairly substantial. According to the printed catalogue I have, op.74 is about 27 minutes long and op.183 about 25 minutes long.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Okay, I'm now curious to know whether anyone has heard the Requiem for Nietzsche.

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I had listened to it online a couple of times, but now that I've got hold of a CD... it's a rather fascinating work for a couple of reasons. First, it's one of Holmboe's largest-scale works. 11 movements (for 11 sonnets), and about 51 minutes long on the sole recording. Second, it's from his most 'modern' period in the 1960s.

I'm liking it a lot, but it really doesn't sound that much like a typical Holmboe work and I think people who know him from the symphonies would be quite surprised by this.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

I've decided I definitely am going to do reviews for the concertos the way that I did for the symphonic works. I really want to get to know them better. There's 23 recorded works... and this time I'm even going to have recordings to choose from in some cases!

There's still two recordings I haven't even heard once yet (concertos 9 and 13), so I'm going to give them a whirl in the normal course of things before shuffling 'em all together and listening with a view to writing about them.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Karl Henning

Quote from: orfeo on May 07, 2015, 07:05:23 PM
Okay, I'm now curious to know whether anyone has heard the Requiem for Nietzsche.

[asin]B00006831Z[/asin]

I had listened to it online a couple of times, but now that I've got hold of a CD... it's a rather fascinating work for a couple of reasons. First, it's one of Holmboe's largest-scale works. 11 movements (for 11 sonnets), and about 51 minutes long on the sole recording. Second, it's from his most 'modern' period in the 1960s.

I'm liking it a lot, but it really doesn't sound that much like a typical Holmboe work and I think people who know him from the symphonies would be quite surprised by this.

Sorry to drop the ball.  Haven't listened to it . . . but you've got me wondering if I've reeled the CD in, but have yet to listen to it.  (That sometimes happens by me . . . .)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot