Vagn Holmboe - Symphonies Nos.11, 12 and 13

VAGN HOLMBOE (1909-1996)

Complete Symphonies Vol 6

Symphonies Nos. 11; 12 and 13

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra

Owain Arwel Hughes

**Denmark might be the 21st century welfare state par excellence, but the nation's classic literature gives a darker, even a haunted, impression of the Danish soul. In Jens-Peter Jacobsen's two 19th century masterpieces, "Niels Lyhne" and "Maria Grubbe," the countryside broods, the towns are muddy, the long winter brutalizes poor souls. In his "Songs of Gurre," Jacobsen recalls the feuds and passions of the medieval period. In "Lucky Kristoffer," meanwhile, the 20th century master Martin A. Hansen shows us a Denmark afflicted by the miseries of the Thirty Years War. Karen Blixen summed up the trend when she titled her most-read cycle of novellas, published at the time of World War II, "Seven Gothic Tales." Much more than his illustrious precursor Carl Nielsen, Jutland-born Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) strikes me as musically part of this "Gothic Denmark." Like the trio of writers mentioned above, Holmboe, one of whose hobbies was the planting and tending of trees, cultivated a keen sense of the earth in its seasons. He knew the natural processes, the hidden changes beneath the soil, the running of the sap in autumn, and the quickening in the air at the end of winter. His music reflects this earthward orientation; it deals in long-drawn, seamless, transformations, and in the clash and succession of elemental forces. The final trio of symphonies (11 [1980], 12 [1988], and 13 [1994]) represents the perfected synthesis of all the characteristic Holmboe traits: Continuous transformation of simple motifs; dense but luminous polyphony; a constant but deeply sublimated presence of Danish folksong; a tendency to qualified optimism in the closing bars. Consider, for example, the ultimate symphony, No. 13. It is in three movements, all marked "Allegro." The First Movement begins with a ryhthmically marked "conflict motif" in the horns, followed by an undulating movement in strings, both of which seem to come together in a martial passage with much punctuation from the battery; the undulation returns in flutes and is taken up by other winds, then challenged by horns and trumpets. Along the way we hear delicate comments from the celesta. The variety and rapid succession of the moods dazzle the mind, but never suggest the episodic. The Second Movement relaxes a bit, with an episode, largely for strings, marked "Calmo," before becoming animated, even strident, again in its coda. The Third Movement returns to the conflicted landscape of the First, but gradually transforms the familiar horn-figure into something hymnic and reconciling. The ethereal sounds ("Calmo" once again) remind us of another Holmboe trait that acquires geat importance in the last three symphonies: A Cosmic feeling, partly religious, partly esthetic, at once lyrical and impersonal. One finds just the same feeling in Jacobsen's evocations of nature, or at the beginning of Blixen's novella, "The Dreamers." There is no need to comment on Symphonies Nos. 11 and 12. They are "of a piece" with No. 13. With the coupling of Nos. 8 and 9, this is one of the high points of the Hughes/Holmboe cycle on BIS. **

Tracks 1-3 Symphony No.11 Op.144 /M.304 (1980)

Tracks 4-6 Symphony No.12 Op. 175/M.338 (1988)

Tracks 7-9 Symphony No.13 Op.192/M.362 (1994)

AARHUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

ORWAIN ARWEL HUGHES (Conductor)