Vagn Holmboe

As a composer Vagn Holmboe turns away from complex composition processes and musical convolutedness and rather employs concepts like logic, consistency and clarity – similar to what we find in Viennese Classicism. The music of Joseph Haydn was a great source of inspiration, just as one senses influences from Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartok. Holmboe’s thirteen symphonies constitute the core of his oeuvre. Add to this an extensive series of solo concertos for virtually every symphonic instrument. His more than 20 string quartets occupy a stunning and central position among the chamber works. And finally, Holmboe’s vast production of pieces for mixed choir a cappella should not go unmentioned, particularly his Liber Canticorum series.