Has any company done
as much as Bis for the distinctive tonal
music of Holmboe? Perhaps Da Capo? In
any event the symphonies stand at the
heart of any Holmboe collection and
it was Bis who recorded them as an intégrale
and issued them as a boxed set on BIS-CD-843/46
(Rosenberg next?). Bis have also added
numerous CDs of the concertos and other
orchestral and choral pieces.
The Swedish company
have already issued one CD of some of
the sequence of numbered concertos.
That was BIS-CD-917 which included Concertos
8 Sinfonia Concertante (1945),
10 Wood, Brass and Gut (1945-46);
Concerto Giocondo e Severo (1977)
and Den Galsindede Tyrk (The
Ill-Tempered Turk) (1944-45).
Another Holmboe disc
from Bis is always welcome. Here we
have three works from the insular mid-1940s
and one from the international years
of the 1970s. The three chamber concertos
have in common that they do not feature
solo parts - unlike the other ten. There
are thirteen of these Holmboe concertos
if you include the 1977 Concerto
Giocondo e Severo. These concertos
were initially dubbed Chamber Concertos
but the composer retitled them Concerto.
They have been recorded complete on
Da Capo using what sounds to be a smaller
ensemble than is used by Bis.
The Piano Concerto
is in two movements as are all three
concertos on this disc. the first movement
of which is cleanly orchestrated, elegant
and even softly romantic. The second
owes something to Eastern European vigour,
strongly rhythmic and probably indebted
to the Balkan connection via Holmboe's
Rumanian pianist wife, Meta. It was
Meta who gave the premiere in 1941 in
Copenhagen with an orchestra conducted
by Launy Grøndahl. That second
movement is touched via the wand of
Bartók with the Hungarian friss
and is in the composer’s most animated
vein. The Clarinet Concerto is
often wild and woolly. Its range of
expression looks back to the Nielsen
concerto. Knud Ketting, in his excellent
liner-note, mentions that Aage Oxenvad,
for whom Nielsen wrote his own concerto,
was the only clarinettist in Denmark
who might have been able to do the work
some justice. Surprisingly this concerto
has never been performed in live concert.
The Piano Concerto has many memorable
moments but the most joyful and impressive
work of the three is the Oboe Concerto.
Especially in the first movement the
oboe's melodic line describes an oriental
curve reminiscent of Hovhaness punctuated
with the thudding off-beat impacts from
Holmboe's mid-period symphonies. The
oboe is most beautifully played by Gordon
Hunt. It is no wonder that this concerto
has carried Holmboe's name widely: it
is intriguing and engaging, full of
melodic interest. It would pair well
with that other wonder of twentieth
century oboe concertos, the Malcolm
Arnold.
The Beatus Parvo
stands apart from the three
concertos not only in genre but also
in time. It was written during the early
1970s to a commission from an amateur
choir. The style is of a piece with
the 1940s concertos - lyrically accessible
and very singable. There are four movements:
calmly rounded and at peace; troubled
and dramatically punched out with the
smilingly coaxing clarinet underpinning
the Quoniam tacui; ambiguously
still; and finally the surgingly confident,
bell-swung Multa flagella which,
if lacking the final ecstatic drive
of Rosenberg's Fourth and Fifth symphonies,
is extremely attractive.
Full words for Beatus
Parvo are given in the sung Latin
and in English translation.
I hope Bis have noticed
that we still need a complete recording
of Holmboe's choral cycle Liber Canticorum
(1951-52).
A well-packed disc
with a nice balance struck between the
concertos and a rarely encountered choral-orchestral
work.
Rob Barnett
