Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that you had to put Vagn Holmboe, Denmark's greatest modernist, up against Igor Stravinsky, Russia's greatest modernist composer. To make it fair, let's put Holmboe's Sinfonia Sacra from 1941 up against Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms from 1930 and Holmboe's three-movement Symphony No. 5 from 1944 up ...
This set of symphonies by Vagn Holmboe is the strongest possible argument that Holmboe is not just the greatest Danish symphonist and not only one of the greatest modernist symphonists: it is proof positive that Vagn Holmboe was the greatest modernist symphonist of all. Committed, compelling, and cogent; driven, dedicated, and deep; linear, lucid, ...
Because BIS recorded the first 12 symphonies of Vagn Holmboe with Owain Arwel Hughes conducting the Århus Symphony Orchestra, Holmboe wrote his 13th and last symphony. At 84 years old and in failing health, Holmboe had lived to hear his symphonies brilliantly recorded in superb performances by Hughes and the Århus and, rejuvenated by what he heard ...
Gustav Holst composed The Planets (1914-1916) well before the discovery of Pluto in 1930; though he lived until 1934, he felt no desire to extend his seven-movement suite to include a new piece devoted to it. However, at the urging of conductor Kent Nagano, composer and Holst scholar Colin Matthews has created an optional eighth movement -- Pluto, ...
If you want to start the BIS' series of recordings of the 13 symphonies of the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe, start here. The Symphony No. 1 for chamber orchestra from 1935 is an appealing work of lean, Danish modernism in three light movements. The Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia rustica," from 1941 is a work based on folk songs built into ferocious ...
Something of Vagn Holmboe's approach to writing concertos may be discerned in his numeration: they are not grouped according to the solo instrument (e.g., Piano Concerto No. 1), but counted merely as Concertos in the sequence of their composition, regardless of the featured instruments. This suggests that the soloist's role is somewhat altered: ...
Danish composer Vagn Holmboe once described his music as "a microcosm, the reflection of an order which is in itself unfathomable and impossible to form -- like the structure of atoms, or the galaxies of the universe." It is, apparently, all a matter of scale. In Denmark, Holmboe is the great symphonist of the twentieth century. In the great wide ...
It takes a lot of faith in your basic materials to write a 20-minute-long symphonic movement or a 25-minute symphony in one movement. Every note has to bear the weight of every note that went before it and the whole has to be unified and diverse, convincing and compelling, radiant and luminous. Of the great modernist symphonists of the twentieth ...
It is difficult to fairly compare this recording of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales to professional ensembles. Despite the immense skill of the orchestra, it is still a youth group that simply does not yield an entirely satisfying performance. Balance is hands down the number one issue with which to contend. The orchestra boasts 30 violins, ...
Very light, very sweet, and very, very captivating, this collection of (mostly) British string orchestra music performed by the Camerata Wales under the direction of conductor Owain Arwel Hughes called Through Gold and Silver Clouds will charm listeners who know the works on the program and delight listeners who don't. Of course, Elgar's lyrical ...
Danish composer Knudäge Riisager recalled the 1930 premiere production of his ballet Benzin as "one of the most famous failures in the annals of the theater." Based on a scenario by humorist Robert Storm Petersen, in spirit it is somewhat similar to John Alder Carpenter's ballet Krazy Kat (1921), which was based on the work of George Herriman. ...
Though there are many recordings of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto superior to this one, there are few recordings of the Second or the completed Third Concerto as fine and hardly any recordings of the Concert Fantasia or the Allegro in C minor as capable. Because all these works -- that is, all the Russian composer's works for piano and ...
One of the glories of the early BIS catalog was its extensive series of recordings of the works of the great Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, some of which were world-premiere recordings, and many of which remain among the best performances yet recorded. This 2009 disc includes Schnittke's Ninth Symphony, reconstructed by Alexandr Raskatov after ...
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