Ib Nørholm (24 January 1931– 10 June 2019)

Started by pjme, June 12, 2019, 12:27:34 AM

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relm1

Not very familiar with this composer.  Care to give a style description or point out some key works?

André

Norholm is known from a fine series of concerti and symphonies. My favourite works are the symphony no 2 'Isola Bella'  the 4th and the 5th. And his violin concerto. His style is resolutely modern but approachable.

pjme

I only know a couple of symphonies by Norholm - all in his (later) complex manner. Apparently his last works are much more simple. The early first symphony  can still be labeled as a sort of "Nordic -lyrical" (see the text of Edition -S)
The music I chose as an illustration gives -I hope- some idea of his evolution as an artist.

Ib Nørholm is one of Danish music's grand old men and one of the most significant Danish composers of the last forty years. With his ten major symphonies he is, alongside Carl Nielsen, Vagn Holmboe, Rued Langgaard and Per Nørgård, one of the greatest Danish symphonists of the twentieth century.

Ib Nørholm's musical career began early. He has played the piano since the age of nine and the organ since the age of 15. As early as the age of 18 he made his debut with his first major composition, the chamber opera The Snail and the Rose Hedge based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen. Nørholm studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Vagn Holmboe, Finn Høffding, Niels Viggo Bentzon and Bjørn Hjelmborg as his teachers. In 1955 and 1956 he took his final exams - including the major organist diploma which marked the beginning of a long life as an organist among other things.

In the course of the 1950s Nørholm wrote a series of works whose style can best be characterized as Nordic-lyrical, and which thus continued in a direct line from Carl Nielsen and later Vagn Holmboe. In 1960 Nørholm - like many other European composers - had a very direct encounter with the Central European showdown with the musical aesthetics of the older generation when he and his colleagues Per Nørgård, Helmer Nørgaard and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen went off in Nørholm's own Volkswagen to the ISCM Festival in Cologne.
The four composers, all the same age, were already then greatly interested in the international avant-garde and met regularly, for among other purposes to analyse Boulez' new works and discuss the implications of the new currents; but the meeting in Cologne with first performances of Stockhausen's Kontakte, Boulez' Pli Selon Pli, Kagel's Anagrama and Ligeti's Apparitions was a boundary-shifting experience that was to leave its crucial mark on Nørholm's music throughout the early 1960s. The previous Danish post-Nielsen modernism was superseded by a far more abstract style of writing combined with ever greater openness towards all conceivable forms of musical expression. Ib Nørholm's style, however, changed quickly again: after a few years with predetermined serialism, with structuralism, with graphic notation, with works with aleatory elements and the use of sound sources like mechanical toys, Nørholm moved in the middle of this decade towards the style of composing that was later designated "the New Simplicity". The simpler style was most clearly expressed in a major work of the period, From the Flora of Danish Poetry (1966) for soprano and piano/guitar with texts by Danish poets like Frank Jæger, Asger Pedersen, Johannes Kirkegård and others.

Regardless of leanings (conscious or unconscious) towards named styles and movements, the special Nørholm feel has never been gainsaid in his works. If one were to label his music after 1970, it would have to be something like "integrated bitonality", as expressed most finely and clearly in the Fifth Symphony from 1980 and the Ninth Symphony from 1993; and not least in the hour-long work for soloists, choir and orchestra The Elf-Mirror from 1996, which is based on an old Danish ballad adapted by the Danish poet Poul Borum.

Alongside his work as a composer Ib Nørholm has functioned as a teacher for several generations of Danish composers. As early as 1965 he got his first teaching job at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, and from 1981 until his retirement in 2000 Nørholm was Professor of Composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where as head of the composing course he left his clear mark on the young Danish composers of today. In addition, in the course of his career, Nørholm has held a number of professional posts, and has among other things been a member of the National Arts Foundation (1971-74) and chairman of the Danish ISCM Committee (1973-78).
Source: http://www.edition-s.dk/composer/ib-n%C3%B8rholm

schnittkease

RIP. I never got around to exploring his vast oeuvre, but I suppose now's as good a time as ever to start.

relm1

Well, I definitely enjoyed his Symphony No. 1 and want to explore more.  Sort of reminds me of early Lutoslawski which is a very favorable comparison.  I also hear some Sibelius and Copeland.  Certainly a composer worth exploring.

vandermolen

Quote from: André on June 12, 2019, 06:27:40 AM
Norholm is known from a fine series of concerti and symphonies. My favourite works are the symphony no 2 'Isola Bella'  the 4th and the 5th. And his violin concerto. His style is resolutely modern but approachable.
I have you to thank for Symphony No.2 which I'm listening to now. Yes 'modern but approachable'. Kept my attention throughout.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

Where did you find Norholm's Symphony No. 2?  I can't find it anywhere.  It's not on youtube, spotify, not even Amazon and now I want to hear it because of my renewed interest given his death, I enjoyed his first symphony, and the endorsements here.

vandermolen

Quote from: relm1 on June 17, 2019, 06:42:31 AM
Where did you find Norholm's Symphony No. 2?  I can't find it anywhere.  It's not on youtube, spotify, not even Amazon and now I want to hear it because of my renewed interest given his death, I enjoyed his first symphony, and the endorsements here.

On Amazon UK Karim.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symf-No2-Odense-Ork-European-Nørholm/dp/B000024VCT/ref=sr_1_5?crid=LWNAOKSUTDTQ&keywords=ib+norholm&qid=1560783101&s=music&sprefix=Norholm%2Cclassical%2C210&sr=1-5

The link might not work in which case go onto Amazon UK and just type in his name and hopefully it will come up.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Alex Bozman

Only just read of his passing. My first encounters with Norholm's music were the piano piece Signatures from a Province and Cataracts of Funen, for chamber ensemble, both recorded off the radio. At one point, he was quite well represented on CD, with Kontrapunkt recording a number of his symphonies and chamber music. The early symphonies were, for me, easier to get a handle on, but thanks to pjme for the link to the 7th Symphony, which doesn't sound as daunting as my recollection.   

vers la flamme

I have been meaning to check out the music of Ib Nørholm for the better part of a year, since I heard of his passing. Better late than never, I suppose.

I listened to a couple of his symphonies on youtube, they had colorful subtitles: "The sun garden in three shades of lights'; "Ecliptic Instincts"; etc. I like that. I ordered this CD:



... for four dollars and change, brand new, shipped. I couldn't pass it up at that great price. Have also been meaning to explore more songs with guitar accompaniment, so this checks a couple of boxes at once.

Who out there has been listening to Nørholm? Do you have a favorite CD? What works of his do you like? I see that he has been recorded on labels such as Kontra Punkte, Dacapo, etc. Have any of the more mainstream classical labels, indie or major, touched his music, yet? Very curious about all this.

Final question: did he leave behind much in the way of organ music? I see he was an organist much of his life.

relm1

I find his music very fine.  I particularly enjoy his Symphony No.2 "Isola Bella" and the Violin Concerto and Cello Concerto.  He's a fine composer and definitely worth hearing.

foxandpeng

#12
I am thoroughly enjoying what I have heard so far of this fine composer.

Ib Nørholm
Symphony 7 'Ecliptic Instincts' Op. 88
Edward Serov
Odense SO

Symphony 5 'The Elements'
Jan Latham-Koenig
Danish RSO

Ripped via YouTube


Good grief. Looks like Nørholm has much to offer. My interest has been driven by the awareness that he taught Bent Sørensen, Sunleif Rasmussen, and Jesper Koch, all of whom I find particularly interesting - I have not been in any way disappointed so far. Symphony 7 is  simply great and 5 is pretty captivating too!

I recommend him highly after hearing 5 and 7! I think I see a joint exploration alongside my revisiting of Pettersson.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Symphonic Addict

According to some notes I wrote down when I listened to his symphonies, my impressions were much less favorable I'm afraid. Granted, there is something about atmosphere and textures that is well achieved, but nothing particularly stands out in general to me, much less in the symphonies where there are human voices or a narrator. The music tends to be too gray, too dry, too enigmatic for my taste. The symphonies that gave me some pleasure were 1 and 9, nonetheless.

For someone who enjoys Peter Maxwell Davies' symphonies it is a good deal it seems.  ;)
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

foxandpeng

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 03, 2022, 11:25:18 AM


For someone who enjoys Peter Maxwell Davies' symphonies it is a good deal it seems.  ;)

Hehe. You know me well...
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy