Vagn Holmboe. Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar. Jesper Sivebæk Johannes Søe Hansen Bolette Roed

Transkript

1 Vagn Holmboe Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar Jesper Sivebæk Johannes Søe Hansen Bolette Roed

2 Vagn Holmboe Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar Jesper Sivebæk, guitar Johannes Søe Hansen, violin Bolette Roed, recorder Sonata No. 1 for guitar, op. 141 (1979) 15:40 1 I Preludio (Allegro rubato) 3:58 2 II Adagio 3:31 3 III Fugato (Allegro giocoso) 2:28 4 IV Intermezzo (Tempo giusto) 2:42 5 V Rondo (Allegro moderato) 3:02 Sonata No. 2 for guitar, op. 142 (1979) 11:31 6 I Moderato 2:26 7 II Allegro giocoso 1:37 8 III Andante 2:19 9 IV Allegro rubato 1:42 10 V Poco adagio 1:57 11 VI Allegro 1:30 2

3 5 Intermezzi for guitar, op. 149 (1981) 10:01 12 I Rubato 2:13 13 II Allegro 1:12 14 III Andante 2:25 15 IV Allegro piacevole 1:42 16 V Andante Allegro Andante 2:29 Duo Concertato, op. 167 (1986) 8:24 for violin and guitar 17 I Liberamente Animato 2:43 18 II Liberamente Andante con moto 3:10 19 III Liberamente Allegro con brio 2:32 Parlare del più e del meno, op. 176 (1988) 10:57 Five pieces for guitar solo 20 I Adantino 3:06 21 II Moderato 1:34 22 III Brioso 1:22 23 IV Poco adagio 2:17 24 V Lento Allegro Lento Allegro 2:38 Dacapo is supported by the Danish Arts Council Committee for Music 3

4 Canto e Danza, op. 191 (1992) * 8:30 for recorder and guitar 25 Canción de siega. Tranquillo con moto 2:15 26 Allegro leggiero 1:05 27 Adagio tempo primo 2:16 28 Danza. Allegro piacevole meno mosso tempo primo 2:54 7 Folk Ballads (1983) * 6:17 Arranged by the composer for recorder and guitar 29 I The Three Ravens, England 0:50 30 II Allegro, Israel 0:35 31 III L était une goélette, France (It was a schooner) 0:47 32 IV Dans les prisons de Nantes, France (In the prisons of Nantes) 1:02 33 V Andante, Ukraine 0:50 34 VI J ai descendu dans mon jardin, France (I went down into my Garden) 0:32 35 VII Mi fa r han ga mæ femten får, Denmark (My father, he gave me fifteen sheep) 0:52 36 Encore: Moi j ai cinq sous, France (I got me five sous) 0:49 Total 71:20 * World Premiere Recording 4

5 VAGN Holmboe by Per Erland Rasmussen Guitar music does not loom large in Vagn Holmboe s extensive production of some 400 works. He had composed for half a century before 1979, when he took up the instrument in four solo works: two sonatas, five intermezzi and five pieces entitled Parlare del più e del meno (To talk about this and that). There are also some duo works: Duo Concertato for violin and guitar, Seven Folk Ballads and Canto e Danza for recorder and guitar. Vagn Holmboe ( ) studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen at the end of the 1920s. His teachers were Knud Jeppesen, the internationally known Palestrina scholar, and Finn Høffding. In 1930 he continued his studies in Berlin with one of the foremost representatives of the neoclassical style in Germany, Ernst Toch. For a period from the end of the 1940s to the middle of the 1950s Holmboe worked as a reviewer on the newspaper Politiken, and for 15 years, , he was a highly respected teacher of composition at the Academy in Copenhagen, from 1955 on as professor. His pupils included the later leading lights in Danish music Ib Nørholm (b. 1931) and Per Nørgård (b. 1932). As a young man Holmboe, like many others of his generation, received enduring impressions from Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók, especially from the latter, since he considered Stravinsky s neoclassical works as too artfully distanced. In addition he came under the influence of the branch of German neoclassicism that was called Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity). In opposition to Romanticism where the composer was a genius creating music in splendid isolation, the representatives of the new objectivity, whose leading composer was Paul Hindemith, reinstated the composer as the craftsman he had been earlier. Like Bartók, Holmboe pursued folk music studies in Romania after his student years his link with that country came from his marriage to a Romanianpianist he had met in Berlin. One fruit of his interest in folklore is the collection of Copenhagen street cries in the 1930s, which was republished at the end of the 1980s. But he worked with eastern European and Arab as well as Danish folk music, and like Bartók he worked melodies, rhythms and sonorities from folk music into his own music, which however unlike Bartók s is only rarely based on true folk music. The Hindemith-inspiredobjectivity 5

6 came particularly to expression in a work series consisting of thirteen chamber concertos written between 1939 and 1956, a Danish counterpart of Hindemith s Chamber Music, seven concertos for one or more soloists and chamber orchestra ( ), which for its part imitated the Baroque concerto, for example Bach s Brandenburg Concertos. Holmboe stands as the most important heir to Carl Nielsen in the Danish music of his generation. In his works, like his contemporary colleagues Herman D. Koppel ( ) and Niels Viggo Bentzon ( ), he takes up the legacy of Carl Nielsen and Sibelius on a neoclassical foundation, far from Stravinsky s distance and from the lightweight divertissements known from much of the French music of the inter-war years, but with ties to historical classicism a neoclassicism so to speak in the spirit of Haydn, to mention one composer whom Holmboe rated very highly. Holmboe was first and foremost a symphonist, from around 1950 with consistent and convincing use of his metamorphosis technique, an organic symphonic transformation technique suitable for creating cohesion in often widely ramified developments of musical motifs and themes of the kind one can study in Sibelius, Liszt and Haydn. Four of his one-movement orchestral works, Epitaph, Monolith, Epilogue and Tempo Variabile ( ) thus have the overall heading Symphonic metamorphosis. In general Holmboe s unusually large output of symphonies and string quartets is a match quantitatively for that of Dmitri Shostakovich, which is in itself an impressive feat indeed with his total of string quartets he outstripped the Russian s mere fifteen. In particular Holmboe s string quartets (no. 1, 1949; no. 20, 1985), which naturally continue the tradition from Bartók, and which must be considered his true masterpieces, provide richly faceted insight into Holmboe s universe with all that involves of logical development of the material, polyphony, rhythmic vigour, folk-like rhythms and sonorous, cantabile lyricism. Among the symphonies one can mention the breakthrough work no. 2 from 1938, the Sinfonia rustica (no. 3), no. 6 from 1947 and the most frequently mentioned Sinfonia boreale (Nordic symphony, no. 8) from To these one should add Holmboe s extensive work with choral music, resulting in among other things the great oratorio Requiem for Nietzsche for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra (1964) and in the collections of a cappella choral music called the Liber Canticorum ( and 67). 6

7 About the works Much of the music written for guitar in the past has typically had a light character that can be heard in sets of variations, character pieces and dances, often gathered in suites, or concertos. In this one senses the southern European provenance of the instrument. However, alongside the compositions of these types one also finds freely imaginative, often virtuosic pieces called preludes or the like, sometimes with heavier content. Holmboe s works are a natural extension of this tradition without necessarily being light music. For example one does not feel any great difference between the suite-like works like the Five Intermezzi and the true sonatas. Holmboe has himself explained why he started writing sonatas for guitar: I wanted to write music for the guitar, and to avoid folkloristic ideas I chose to write a sonata; and since I did not consider that enough, I wrote another. The result was characteristic of Holmboe: two compositions that beautifully complement each other. Sonata no. 1, op. 141, from 1979, begins the series of guitar works by Vagn Holmboe. It has five movements which represent different characters: Preludio Adagio Fugato Intermezzo Rondo. The first movement, Preludio, behind its quick, flexible tempo (allegro rubato) and its dramatic motifs (dominated especially by inverted dottings and fast ascending and descending semiquavers) is relatively tightly composed. Yet nothing is repeated exactly, it all undergoes constantly shifting developments (as can incidentally be said of most of the movements recorded on this CD). This metamorphosing tendency extends throughout the sonata, in which certain interval sequences, rhythms and types of motion are more or less covertly maintained, as is particularly clear in the slow, beautiful second movement. The scherzo-like fugato movement (allegro giocoso) is notated on two staves and quite capriciously composed with its alternation between toccata-like developments and fugato passages with changing although related subjects. The intermezzo movement brings a passing calm before the reformulated and summarizing themes of the rondo finale round the movement off. 7

8 Sonata no. 2, op. 142, which as noted followed immediately on the heels of the first sonata, has a similar structure. However, its six movements are now given with Roman numbers and have the following character names: Moderato Allegro giocoso Andante Allegro rubato Poco adagio Allegro. Stylistically, the two sonatas are not far from each other the two finales are especially similar but no. 2 seems slightly more controlled and clearly defined, more classical. With the dramatic fourth movement (allegro rubato) as a possible exception, in this sonata we sense a strange calm in the way the design develops. And once more we feel that beneath the surface organic intervallic links run from movement to movement. Two years later, in 1981, the fine Five Intermezzi, op. 149, followed; in terms of musical material and composition technique they are very close to the sonatas and could easily have been published as a sonata. The movements have traditional Italian character designations and form a beautifully shaped totality rather like that of the five-movement solo sonatas of Corelli. The fifth movement is the longest. It is based on a little folk-like melody, a Spanish lullaby, which besides beginning and ending the set is also heard half-way. The music alternates between the lullaby and a longer allegro section, and a few times along the way the guitarist knocks out a little fanfare rhythm on the soundboard of the instrument. In 1988 Holmboe added yet another solo work in several movements to those he had already written: five pieces with the Italian title Parlare del più e del meno (To talk about this and that), which in fact remained unperformed until Again these are finely sculptured movements in a variety of moods. Only two of them offer a quick tempo, the third and the sixth. The pulse is predominantly calm or slow, which gives the work a generally serious feel. The first movement (andantino) has a rondo-like form with frequent returns to the calm introductory theme, which each time works its way up and out in repetitions of demisemiquavers. The second movement (moderato), like the fourth movement (poco adagio) is built up over a similar thematic contrast, while the third movement (brioso) is the fiery scherzo of the work. The concluding movement is a prelude and fugue (lento allegro), which is played twice, the second time in recomposed form. 8

9 In Five Intermezzi and Parlare del più e del meno Holmboe works in several of the movements with a slightly more animated phrasing than in the two sonatas, making use of alternating time signatures. For example the fugue theme in the last movement of Parlare del più e del meno has a 2/4 + 3/4 module. Duo Concertato for violin and guitar, op. 167, is from 1986 and is thus slightly older than Parlare del più e del meno. There are three movements, forming the classic quickslow-quick sequence, and they all begin with a libe ra mente passage which in the first and third movement uses the same thematic material: Liberamente-Animato Liberamente-Andante con moto Libera mente-allegro con brio. As the title suggests, the duo is a concertante work, not a kind of violin concerto where the guitar imitates an accompanying orchestra (although there are suggestions of this in the first theme of the concluding allegro), but a concertante duo where the two instruments unfold on an equal footing in a lively interplay. Often they play ping-pong with contrasting ideas, but as a rule the composer lets the same thematic material alternate between them dramatically and in the true spirit of music-making, in the finale with elements of folkloristic fieriness. Canto e Danza for recorder and guitar, op. 191, with 1992 as its year of composition, is a relatively late work. The choice of instruments inspired Holmboe to write a work of neo-baroque character typified by transparency of sound. There are four movements: the first is the song Canción de siega (Spanish harvest song), which continues con moto with varying elaborations on the song. The second and third movements carry on with variations on the harvest song which is quoted literally at the end of the slow third movement (Tempo I). At the end, after the free variations, we hear a sweeping, southern European-inspired dance, Danza. Seven Folk Ballads for recorder and guitar is from 1983 and is the charming fruit of Holmboe s interest in folk music. The settings, actually conceived for balalaika and guitar, have been composed with a light hand and formed as a diverting suite of atmospheric miniatures. Five countries are represented: England, Israel, France, the Ukraine and Denmark each contribute a folk ballad, while four are French, including the encore (no. 8). Per Erland Rasmussen, May

10 The Performers Jesper Sivebæk (guitar) trained at the West Jutland Academy of Music (today The Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark) with associate professor Jørgen Bjørslev, and graduated from the soloist class of the Malmö Academy of Music under Professor Per-Olof Johnsson. Jesper Sivebæk has extensive concert engagements as a soloist and chamber musician and is co-founder of the Scandinavian Guitar Duo, which won the Danish Broadcasting Association s Chamber Music Competition in Jesper Sivebæk has played first performances of Danish guitar concertos by Karl Aage Rasmussen, Lars Heegård, Ulrik Neumann, Anders Koppel and Poul Ruders. He has won prizes at international solo guitar competitions in Spain, France and Italy. Since 2007, Jesper Sivebæk has been an associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has been a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Malmö Academy of Music, the Academy of Music in Tallinn and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the USA. For Dacapo Jesper Sivebæk has recorded a CD with guitar works by Poul Ruders. Bolette Roed (recorder) graduated from the advanced solo performance class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Her repertoire ranges from medieval to contemporary music and naturally involves improvisation, folk and world music. She performs in various ensembles like Alpha, Gáman and Lune Rousse. Bolette Roed has been a soloist with Concerto Copenhagen, Arte Dei Suonatori, the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the RoyalDanish Orchestra. Bolette Roed has recorded several CDs, for example Alpha, for Dacapo. She has previously won a major scholarship from the Jacob Gade Foundation, and the Danish broadcasting corporation DR nominated her as DR Artist of the Year in In 2011, Bolette Roed was nominated for the Nordic Council s Music Prize. Johannes Søe Hansen (violin) trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Professor Milan Vitek. He is Concertmaster of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since As a soloist Johannes Søe Hansen has performed with 10

11 Jesper Sivebæk all the Danish symphony orchestras, as well as several of the other Nordic orchestras and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. He has an important parallel career as a chamber musician with concerts at home and abroad. For Dacapo Johannes Søe Hansen has recorded among other things Vagn Holmboe s works for violin and piano and Niels Otto Raasted s solo sonatas. Johannes Søe Hansen was a prizewinner in the International Carl Nielsen Violin Competition In 1988, he was awarded the major Jacob Gade Grant and the minor Sonning Prize. 11

12 VAGN HOLMBOE af Per Erland Rasmussen Guitarmusikken fylder ikke så meget i Vagn Holmboes ca. 400 værker omfattende produktion. Han havde komponeret i et halvt århundrede, før han fra 1979 tog instrumentet op i fire soloværker: to sonater, fem intermezzi og fem stykker med titlen Parlare del più e del meno (Tale om det ene og det andet). Der foreligger desuden to duoværker: Duo Concertato for violin og guitar samt Syv folkeviser og Canto e Danza for blokfløjte og guitar. Vagn Holmboe ( ) studerede på konservatoriet i København sidst i 1920 erne. Hans lærere var Knud Jeppesen, den internationalt kendte Palestrina-forsker, og Finn Høffding. I 1930 fortsatte han sine studier i Berlin hos en af de fremmeste tyske repræsentanter for den neoklassiske stilretning i Tyskland, Ernst Toch. I en periode fra sidst i 1940 erne til midten af 50 erne arbejdede Holmboe som anmelder ved dagbladet Politiken, og i 15 år, , var han en højt respekteret lærer i komposition ved konservatoriet i København, fra 1955 som professor. Blandt hans elever var senere fyrtårne i dansk musik som Ib Nørholm (f. 1931) og Per Nørgård (f. 1932). Som ung modtog Holmboe som mange andre i hans generation varende indtryk fra Igor Stravinsky og Béla Bartók, ganske særligt fra sidstnævnte, da han fandt Stravinskys neoklassiske værker kunstfærdige på en for distanceret måde. Tillige kom han under indflydelse af den gren af tysk neoklassik, der blev kaldt Neue Sachlichkeit (ny saglighed). I opposition til romantikkens tanke om komponisten som et i ensomhed skabende geni genindsatte den nye sagligheds repræsentanter, hvis kompositoriske førerskikkelse var Paul Hindemith, komponisten som den håndværker, han tidligere havde været. Som Bartók bedrev Holmboe efter studietiden folkemusikstudier i Rumænien, som han var blevet knyttet til gennem sit giftermål med en rumænsk pianist, han mødte i Berlin. En frugt af interessen for folklore er indsamlingen af københavnske gaderåb i 1930 erne, som blev genudgivet sidst i 1980 erne. Men også dansk, østeuropæisk og arabisk folkemusik beskæftigede han sig med, og træk fra folkemusikken af melodisk, rytmisk og klanglig art indarbejdede han ligesom Bartók i sin egen musik, der dog modsat denne kun undtagelsesvis baseres på egentlig folkemusik. Den Hindemith-inspirerede 12

13 saglighed kom i særlig grad til udtryk i en værkserie bestående af 13 kammerkoncerter skrevet mellem 1939 og 1956, en dansk pendant til Hindemiths Kammermusiken, syv koncerter for en eller flere solister og kammerorkester ( ), som på sin side efterlignede barokkoncerten, f.eks. Bachs Brandenburgerkoncerter. Holmboe står som Carl Nielsens væsentligste arvtager i sin generations danske musik. I sine værker viderefører han ligesom sine jævnaldrende kolleger Herman D. Koppel ( ) og Niels Viggo Bentzon ( ) arven fra denne og fra Sibelius på et neoklassisk grundlag, langt fra Stravinskys distance og fra det letløbende divertissement, som kendes fra megen fransk musik i mellemkrigstiden, men med tilknytning til den historiske klassik, en neoklassik i Haydns ånd så at sige, for at nævne en komponist, som Holmboe satte meget højt. Holmboe var først og fremmest symfoniker, fra omkring 1950 med konsekvent og overbevisende brug af metamorfoseteknikken, en organisk symfonisk forvandlingsteknik egnet til at skabe sammenhæng i ofte vidt forgrenede udviklinger af musikalske motiver og temaer, som det kan studeres hos Sibelius, Liszt og Haydn. Fire af hans ensatsede orkesterværker, Epitaph, Monolith, Epilog og Tempo Variabile ( ) har således fællestitlen Symfonisk metamorfose. I øvrigt måler Holmboes usædvanligt store produktion af symfonier og strygekvartetter sig kvantitativt med Dmitri Sjostakovtj, hvilket i sig selv er en imponerende bedrift, ja faktisk overgik han med sine i alt strygekvartetter russerens kun 15. Især giver Holmboes strygekvartetter (nr. 1, 1949; nr. 20, 1985), der naturligt fortsætter traditionen fra Bartók, og som må anses for at være hans egentlige hovedværker, et rigt facetteret indblik i det holmboeske univers med alt hvad dette indebærer af logisk gennemført udvikling af stoffet, polyfoni, motorisk fremdrift, folkeligt virkende rytmik og kantabil, klangmættet lyrik. Af symfonierne kan nævnes gennembrudsværket nr. 2 fra 1938, Sinfonia rustica (nr. 3), nr. 6 fra 1947 og den oftest omtalte Sinfonia boreale (Nordisk symfoni, nr. 8) fra Hertil bør føjes Holmboes omfattende arbejde med kormusik, der bl.a. udmøntedes i det store oratorium Requiem for Nietzsche for sangsoli, kor og orkester (1964) og i samlingerne af a cappella-kormusik kaldet Liber Canticorum ( og 67). 13

14 Om værkerne Det er kendetegnende for meget af den musik, der er skrevet for guitar gennem tiderne, at den har en let karakter, som det ses i variationsrækker, karakterstykker og danse, ofte sammenstillet i suiter, eller koncerter. Heri mærker man instrumentets sydeuropæiske proveniens. Ved siden af kompositioner af de nævnte typer finder man dog også frit fabulerende, ofte virtuose stykker, kaldet préludes eller lignende, med et til tider tungere indhold. Holmboes værker lægger sig naturligt i forlængelse af denne tradition uden nødvendigvis at være let musik. F.eks. fornemmer man ikke den helt store forskel på suitelignende værker som Fem intermezzi og de egentlige sonater. Holmboe har selv forklaret, hvorfor han lagde ud med at skrive sonater for guitar: Jeg ønskede at skrive musik for guitaren, og for at undgå folkloristiske idéer valgte jeg at skrive en sonate; og da jeg ikke fandt, at det var tilstrækkeligt, skrev jeg en til. Resultatet var karakteristisk for Holmboe: To kompositioner, som på smukkeste vis komplementerer hinanden. Sonate nr. 1, op. 141 fra 1979, indleder rækken af guitarværker af Vagn Holmboe. Den har fem satser, der repræsenterer forskellige karakterer: Preludio Adagio Fugato Intermezzo Rondo. Første sats, preludio (forspil), er bag sit hurtige, fleksible tempo (allegro rubato) og sine dramatiske motiver (især dominerer omvendte punkteringer og hurtige op- og nedadgående 16.delsbevægelser) forholdsvis stramt komponeret. Dog gentages intet eksakt, men undergår stadigt skiftende udviklinger (hvilket i parentes bemærket kan siges om de fleste af de satser, som er indspillet på denne cd). Denne metamorfotiske tendens strækker sig gennem hele sonaten, hvor nogle intervalfølger, rytmer og bevægelsesmåder mere eller mindre skjult fastholdes, som det særlig tydeligt er tilfældet i den smukke langsomme anden sats. Den scherzolignende fugatosats (allegro giocoso) er noteret på to systemer og ganske kapriciøst komponeret med sin vekslen mellem toccatalignende udfoldelser og fugeringer med skiftende, om end beslægtede temaer. Intermezzosatsen bringer forbigående ro, inden rondo-finalens på en gang nyformulerede og opsamlende temaer runder af. 14

15 Sonate nr. 2, op. 142, som altså fulgte umiddelbart efter den første, har en lignende struktur. Dens seks satser er imidlertid nu nummereret med romertal og har følgende karakterbetegnelser: Moderato Allegro giocoso Andante Allegro rubato Poco adagio Allegro. I stilistisk henseende ligger de to sonater ikke langt fra hinanden, især kan de to finaler minde om hinanden, men nr. 2 virker en anelse mere behersket og klarere tegnet, mere klassisk. Med den dramatiske fjerde sats (allegro rubato) som mulig undtagelse mærker man i denne sonate en særlig ro i den måde, hvorpå formgivningen arter sig. Og igen fornemmer man, at der under overfladen går organisk sammenbindende intervalliske tråde fra sats til sats. To år senere, i 1981, fulgte så de fine Fem intermezzi, op. 149, som med hensyn til musikalsk materiale og kompositionsteknik ligger ganske tæt på sonaterne og let kunne være udgivet som en sonate. Satserne har traditionelle italienske karakterbetegnelser og danner en smukt formet helhed lidt à la den femsatsede solosonate hos Corelli. Femte sats er den længste sats. Den er baseret på en folkeligt klingende lille melodi, en spansk vuggevise, som udover at indlede og afslutte også høres midtvejs. Der veksles mellem visen og en længere allegro-del, og et par gange undervejs banker guitaristen en lille fanfarerytme på instrumentets dække. I 1988 føjede Holmboe endnu et flersatset soloværk til de allerede skrevne: fem stykker med den italienske titel Parlare del più e del meno (Tale om det ene og det andet), som i øvrigt kom til at ligge uopført indtil Igen er der tale om fint ciselerede satser af forskelligt stemningsindhold. Kun to af dem byder på hurtigt tempo, tredie og sjette. Pulsen er overvejende rolig eller langsom, hvilket giver værket et overvejende alvorligt præg. Første sats (andantino) har en rondomæssig form med hyppig tilbagevenden til det rolige indledende tema, som hver gang arbejder sig op og ud i repetitioner af 32.dele. Anden sats (moderato) er ligesom fjerde sats (poco adagio) bygget op over en lignende tematisk kontrast, mens tredie sats (brioso) er værkets fyrige scherzo. Den afsluttende sats er et præludium med fuga (lento allegro), som spilles to gange, anden gang i en nykomponeret udformning. I Fem intermezzi og Parlare del più e del meno arbejder Holmboe i adskillige af satserne, med en lidt mere levende frasering end i de to sonater, idet han benytter sig af 15

16 vekslende taktarter. F.eks. danner fugatemaet i sidste sats af Parlare del più e del meno et 2/4 + 3/4-modul. Duo Concertato for violin og guitar, op. 167, er fra 1986 og dermed altså lidt ældre end Parlare del più e del meno. Der er tre satser, dannende den klassiske hurtig-langsomhurtig-følge, og alle begynder med et liberamente-afsnit, der i første og tredie sats benytter det samme tematiske stof: Liberamente-Animato Liberamente-Andante con moto Liberamente-Allegro con brio. Som titlen viser, er duoen et koncerterende værk, ikke en slags violinkoncert, hvor guitaren illuderer ledsagende orkester (om end der er tilløb til dette i den afsluttende allegros første tema), men en koncertant duo, hvor de to instrumenter på jævnbyrdig vis folder sig ud i et levende sammenspil. Ofte spiller de ping-pong med kontrasterende idéer, men som regel lader komponisten det samme tematiske stof alternere dramatisk og ægte musicerende mellem dem, i finalen med indslag af folkloristisk fyrighed. Canto e Danza for blokfløjte og guitar, op. 191, er med kompositionsåret 1992 et relativ sent værk. Instrumentvalget har inspireret Holmboe til et værk af neobarok karakter præget af klanglig transparens. Der er fire satser: Første sats er sangen: Canción de siega (spansk høstsang), der fortsætter con moto med varierende elaboreringer over sangen. Anden og tredie sats går videre med på forskellige måder at variere høstsangen, som citeres ordret sidst i den langsomme tredie sats (Tempo I). Efter de frie variationer høres til sidst en fejende, sydeuropæisk inspireret dans, Danza. Syv folkeviser for blokfløjte og guitar er fra 1983 og charmerende frugter af Holmboes interesse for folkemusik. Udsættelserne, som egentlig er tænkt for balalaika og guitar, er gjort med let hånd og formet som en diverterende suite af stemningsfulde miniaturer. Fem lande er repræsenteret: England, Israel, Frankrig, Ukraine og Danmark tegner sig hver med en folkevise, men fire er franske, heriblandt et ekstranummer (nr. 8). Per Erland Rasmussen, maj

17 De medvirkende Jesper Sivebæk (guitar) er uddannet på Vestjysk Musikkonservatorium (i dag Syddansk Musikkonservatorium & Skuespillerskole) hos docent Jørgen Bjørslev og debuterede fra solistklassen på Musikhögskolan i Malmö hos professor Per-Olof Johnsson. Jesper Sivebæk har en omfattende koncertvirksomhed som solist og kammermusiker og er bl.a. medstifter af Scandinavian Guitar Duo, som vandt DR s Kammermusikkonkurrence i Jesper Sivebæk har spillet danske førsteopførelser af guitarkoncerter af Karl Aage Rasmussen, Lars Heegård, Ulrik Neumann, Anders Koppel og Poul Ruders. Han er prisvinder ved internationale solo guitarkonkurrencer i Spanien, Frankrig og Italien. Siden 2007 har Jesper Sivebæk været lektor på Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium. Han har derudover været gæsteprofessor på Royal Academy of Music i London, Musikhögskolan i Malmö, Academy of Music i Tallinn og ved Oberlin Conservatory of Music i USA. For Dacapo har Jesper Sivebæk bl.a. indspillet en CD med solo- og kammerværker for guitar af Poul Ruders. Bolette Roed (blokfløjte) er uddannet fra solistklassen på Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium i Hendes repertoire spænder fra middelalderen frem til den helt ny musik og finder derimellem helt naturligt til plads til improvisation, folke- og verdensmusik. Bolette Roed optræder i forskellige ensembler som Alpha, Gáman og Lune Rousse. Hun har optrådt som solist med Concerto Copenhagen, Arte Dei Suonatori, DR UnderholdningsOrkestret, DR SymfoniOrkestret og Det Kgl. Kapel. Bolette Roed har medvirker på en række CD-indspilninger, bl.a. Alpha for Dacapo. blev I 2003 tildelt Jacob Gade Legatet, mens hun var Årets DR Kunstner in I 2011 var Boette Roed nomineret til Nordisk Råds Musikpris. Johannes Søe Hansen (violin) er uddannet på Det Kgl. Danske Musikkonservatorium hos professor Milan Vitek og er i dag en af DR SymfoniOrkestrets koncertmestre; en post, han har varetaget siden Som solist har Johanne Søe Hansen spillet med alle de danske symfoniorkestre, flere nordiske samt Skt. Petersborg Filharmonikerne. Som kammermusiker har han sideløbende haft en stor karriere med koncerter både hjemme 17

18 og i udlandet. For Dacapo har Johannes Søe Hansen bl.a. indspillet Vagn Holmboes værker for violin og klaver med Christina Bjørkøe og Niels Otto Raasteds solosonater. Johannes Søe Hansen vandt Den internationale Carl Nielsen violinkonkurrence i I 1988 modtog han Jacob Gades Store Legat og den lille Sonningpris. 18

19 d Recorded at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the concert hall, March and July 2011 and February 2012 Recording producer: Claus Due Sound engineer: Mark Ford Mastering: Preben Iwan & 2012 Dacapo Records, Copenhagen Liner notes: Per Erland Rasmussen English translation: James Manley Proofreader: Svend Ravnkilde Graphic design: Denise Burt, Photo p. 11: Svend Withfelt Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen AS, Dacapo Records and the artist acknowledge, with gratitude, the financial support of Augustinus Fonden, Solistforeningen af 1921 and Dansk Musiker Forbund This CD has been recorded in cooperation with the Royal Danish Academy of Music Dacapo Records, Denmark s national record label, was founded in 1986 with the purpose of releasing the best of Danish music past and present. The majority of our recordings are world premieres, and we are dedicated to producing music of the highest international standards. 19

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21 Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar Jesper Sivebæk, guitar Johannes Søe Hansen, violin Bolette Roed, recorder When the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe ( ) started to write guitar music, he had already been composing for half a century. Captivated by this ancient instrument, Holmboe wrote two beautiful sonatas and a number of solo pieces as well as duets for guitar and other instruments, combining his love of simple, transparent structures and organic musical development with the folklore of foreign cultures and his own Nordic roots Sonata No. 2 for guitar, op. 142 (1979)... 11: Intermezzi for guitar, op. 149 (1981)... 10: Duo Concertato, op. 167 (1986) for violin and guitar... 8: Parlare del più e del meno, op. 176 (1988) for guitar solo... 10: Canto e Danza, op. 191 (1992) for recorder and guitar *... 8: Folk Ballads (1983) for recorder and guitar *... 6:17 5 Sonata No. 1 for guitar, op. 141 (1979)... 15:40 Total: 71: VAGN HOLMBOE Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar VAGN HOLMBOE Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar VAGN HOLMBOE * World Premiere Recording & 2012 Dacapo Records / Artwork: Denise Burt For more information on works, artists, and composers please visit our website / Made in Germany and distributed by NGL Naxos Global Logistics GmbH, Hürderstraße 4, D Kirchheim, Germany _inlay.indd 1 28/08/