Search - Vagn Holmboe, Kontra Quartet :: Holmboe: String Quartet No. 13, Op. 124; String Quartet No. 14, Op. 125; String Quartet No. 15, Op. 135 (String Quartets, Vol. V);

Excellent music in committed performances

G.D. | Norway | 03/02/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Holmboe's symphonies are currently well represented on disc, but in a sense so are his string quartets given The Kontra Quartet's excellent advocacy - even though these recordings have failed to make the impact of Arwel Hughes's symphony cycle for BIS. The three quartets featured here were composed between 1975 and 1978 and are overall generally introspective, darkly shadowed works. The slower music - of which there is much - is generally elegiac, but the faster movements are also generally somber and melancholic. Whereas Shostakovich and Bartók are obvious models, Holmboe's quartets don't really sound like either; they are often structurally ingenious but the thematic material - and his treatment of the thematic material - is often simpler than in the quartets of said composers.



The level of inspiration is never in doubt, however, and despite the generally dark mood, the works are remarkably variegated, from the interesting structure and developments of the five-movemented no.13, through the subtly constrative six sections of the fourteenth to the pensive, deep dark waters of the traditionally four-movemented no.15. The Kontra quartet is fully inside the idiom, playing with sparkle and commitment and a resourceful use of color nuances. The recording is good; clear and well-balanced although a little bright and close. A strongly recommended release, although listeners unfamiliar with the composer are in the end, I suppose, advised to start with the masterly symphonies."