Vagn Holmboe

Vagn Holmboe (1909 - 1996) was a 20th-century Danish composer.  His work is, in my opinion, highly underrated.  

Over the past year or so, I've been immersing myself in his string quartets.  Pictured at the top of this page is a photo of the box set of his complete string quartet works, recorded by The Kontra Quartet.  Overall, the box set is beautifully recorded with strong performances.  

Holmboe's composing is clearly 20th-century, and contains many elements that I find appealing: harmonic density, angularities, pan tonalities, thick quartet orchestrations, unconventional string techniques such as the Bartok pizzicato, and more.  But the appeal of his work goes beyond these elements.  His writing is quite deep.  

After a year of listening to this 7-CD set, I still feel as if I am only scratching the surface of the depths of these brilliant pieces.  Truly fascinating works.  If you're drawn to 20th-century chamber works, I'd consider his 21 string quartets as mandatory listening.  

Thank you for your work, Mr. Holmboe.

-kk