Some of Holmboe's most powerful music
Richard A. Cavalla | NJ, USA | 01/01/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Holmboe's "Symphonic Metamorphoses" are works of symphonic length and proportions, but are structured differently than his actual symponies. In these works, Holmboe's ideas on musical metamorphoses are laid out with a purity and transparency not seen in the symphonies (though they also use metamorphosis but to a lesser degree).
Metamorphosis to Holmboe was very different from variation form, where the aim is to compare and contrast a theme. With metamorphosis, there is a clear musical goal. Just as a caterpillar goes through several stages before becoming a butterfly, so Holmboe's works here go through several stages to reach their musical goals. It lends a sense of direction and drama to the music that is very moving and involving.
The first work, Epitaph, is in a three movement fast-slow-fast format, and is full of powerful melodies and a lot of turbulent drama. Even the slow middle movement still has plenty of tension. Probably my favorite work on the CD.
The second work, Monolith, is shorter (< 10 minutes) and written for smaller forces. However, the vast array of percussion makes the work sound even bigger than Epitaph. Conductor Hughes has no qualms about letting the percussion cut loose! It works well in this loud and powerful piece.
The third work, Epilog, is big and dark. Written for what sounds like quite a large orchestra, the cellos and basses are given a lot of material to work with. At 26 minutes, it is the longest work on the disc and Holmboe actually initially meant this to be his 9th symphony.
The fourth work, Tempo variable, is separated by 10 years from Epilog, whereas a mere 8 years separated the first three works. It does sound somewhat different from the other works. There is more balance to this work in terms of fast/slow and dark/bright, less of the sturm und drang of the earlier pieces, and it looks forward to his later works.
The Aalborg SO play very well. They are not a 1st rate European orchestra like the Concertgebouw or the VPO, but I wouldn't describe them as 2nd rate, maybe 1 & 1/2 rate! In particular they have a great string sound, even if occasionally underpowered compared to the brass and percussion. Owain Arwel Hughes conducts strongly. Indeed I think this is his best work in the Holmboe series on BIS.
Highest recommendations."
The Subterranean World of Vagn Holmboe
Thomas F. Bertonneau | Oswego, NY United States | 10/24/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Vagn Holmboe (1909-1998) led the post-Nielsen generation of Danish composers. A native of rural Jutland, he wrote prolifically - thirteen symphonies, twenty string-quartets, a roughly equal number of concertos, and a good deal of orchestral music in forms hardly less ambitious than the symphonic. Among the latter figure the four works that Holmboe referred to as "metamorphoses." Humphrey Searle and Robert Layton, surveying contemporary Scandinavian music in 1967, wrote of Holmboe's music that it generates "the overwhelming feeling that the musical processes that take place are the inevitable steps in the working out of a drama. In a way, the experience is not unlike a journey; the sense of forward movement is inexorable, the feeling of purpose firm, yet the wealth of detail en route renders it unpredictable... The music grows consistently from [its] initial germ-material." The four "metamorphoses" in order of compostion are: "Epitaph" (1956), "Monolith" (1960), "Epilogue" (1961-62), and "Tempo Variabile" (1971).* As the titles indicate, these four works partake of the programmatic, at least in stemming from specific ideas or events, and so differ from the symphonies as such. While it is true, as Searle and Layton say, that Holmboe "does not deal in big gestures," yet he does deal in Titanic processes - or forces - that seem to occur in a subterranean world, among the lightless roots and stones, only shooting into the inhabited earth at the last moment. Holmboe frequently disturbs the listener this way, as he does in "Monolith," the shortest of these works. The first bars are all rhythm in the drums, followed (very rapidly) by figures heard in strings and then in horns. Holmboe begins the development immediately, with stirrings and transformations and recombinations of the components, always in dark motion, until the vision of some antique monument seems to stand before us. The other three works effect the same inevitability, but on a larger scale. It is remarkable how much the composer packs into eight brief minutes. This disc forms a good introduction to the symphonic thinking of a first-rate twentieth century musical creator. [*"Sinfonia in Memoriam" (1954) is also subtitled "symphonic metamorphoses."]"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1