3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant Holmboe and Norgard, February 8, 2011
This review is from: Oboe & Piano (Audio CD)
This Dacapo disc contains Danish works for oboe and piano, ranging from the opus number two of Carl Nielsen, written in 1889, to the end of the 20th century. They are performed by the duo of Max Artved and Per Salo. I bought this disc while exploring the output of Vagn Holmboe and Per Norgard, and I'll limit my review to their two works.
Vagn Holmboe's Sonatina for Oboe and Piano op. 93b (1990) is, in spite of its low opus number, one of the composer's last works. It is in three movements allegro-andante-allegro and generally neoclassical, though the often extreme rubato keeps it from sounding as dry as that label might seem. Late Holmboe is stark, and while in orchestral works it can sound severe, here there's a sense of wistfulness. The final movement even returns to the characteristic joviality of Holmboe's middle years, when his writing for solo woodwinds featured endless turn motifs.
Per Norgard studied under Holmboe in the early 1950s, often meeting with his teacher at Holmboe's estate near Lake Arre. Norgard's "Images of Arreso" (1995-96) is a suite of five pieces inspired by this wild Danish landscape. Perhaps the most immediately attractive is the third, "Frost Crystal", where Norgard treats the infinity series in a very foursquare, motoric fashion for the first time since the early 1970s. The last movement, "Droplet's Music", is related to Norgard's piano concerto "Concerto in due tempi" which the composer had written for Salo. These Images do not make for a major Norgard piece, but they are pleasant listening and exemplify the composer's tendency to reexamine his works of previous decades in a new light.
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