Holten: First Snow

“Bo Holten has written a substantial corpus of choral music but, as he observes in his notes to the recording, 'the tonal style of my writing has not really seemed politically correct to the bodies commissioning music in Denmark'. While many composers who have written large amounts of choral music in many countries would say substantially the same thing, it should not be forgotten that Holten is also an accomplished orchestral composer. Indeed, the two worlds come together in the Tallis Variations (1976). At least, they are intended to come together though it's hard to explain the feeling of incompleteness that remains after such a promising clash of sound worlds of strings and choir.
Many of the other works recorded here also draw on Holten's extensive knowledge of early music (particularly Renaissance polyphony) but perhaps the most successful work on the disc is one of the oddest, defying easy categorisation: Ebbe Skammelsøn (2001) is based on an old Danish ballad and is a kind of mini-opera featuring choir, 12 soloists and solo trombone. The trombone's psychological commentary lends an extraordinary strangeness to the piece, interacting and at the same time somehow defining the ritualistic anger of the work as conveyed by the singers. The grandiose (and technically challenging) setting of Edith Södergran's Triumf att finnas till provides a fitting conclusion to this accomplished, varied and magnificently sung collection.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010