Organ and accordion music

One of the interesting features of Holmboe's later career is that he started writing for some relatively unexpected instruments, as individual performers attracted his attention. Among the instruments that he wrote for are the organ and the accordion.

There are three solo organ works, but so far only two of them have been recorded. Fabula II (Fable II), op.115 (M.268) has been recorded twice. The first recording is by Knud Vad, who premiered the work, and is another recording to be included in the Dansk Musik Antologi series, coupled with several selections from the group of choral works Liber Canticorum (Deutsche Grammophon DMA 028).

The second and more readily available recording of Fabula II is by Eva Feldbæk, and appears on her disc of Danish organ music (Da Capo 8.224018).

Contrasti (Contrasts), op.113 (M.266) has been recorded by Inge Bønnerup, and appears on a collection called Danish Organ Music from the 20th Century, Volume 3 (CD Klassisk 1051). This disc appears to be widely available for download or streaming.

To the solo organ music should be added the Triade, op.123 (M.276) for organ and trumpet. The only recording is by Edward H. Tarr (trumpet) and Elisabeth Westenholz (organ), who also premiered the work. It originally appeared with other works for trumpet and organ (BIS LP 151) but now appears on the all-Holmboe disc featuring the Cello Concerto (BIS CD 78).

Accordion Sonata No.1, op.143a (M.302) has been recorded twice. The more recent and more widely available recording (particularly for download or streaming, though it also exists on CD) is by Geir Draugsvoll, and appears on Classical Accordion (Simax Classics PSC 1096).

The other recording is by Mogens Ellegaard (who premiered both sonatas), and is coupled on LP with other works featuring accordion by Ib Nørholm, Poul Rovsking Olsen and Per Nørgård (Point P 5058).

Accordion Sonata No.2 'Burlesco', op.179a (M.342) has been recorded once, by Adam Ørvad, and is included on his collection Wing Span (Danacord DACOCD 718).

Piano Music

Holmboe's piano music falls into two broad categories. There are a wealth of pieces composed early in his career, many of them quite short, and there is also a much smaller number of larger scale mature works. Recordings of this repertoire are few, and even many of the larger works are yet to be recorded.

The main collection that is available is the disc by Anker Blyme (Danacord DACOCD 502). This includes the following works:

• Suono da Bardo (The Sound of the Bard), op.49 (M.166), which is by far the largest work.
• Sonatina Briosa, op.27a (M.130)
• Romanian Suite, op.12a (M.99)
• a Suite labelled as "op.4" but in manuscript (based on the composition date probably M.47)
• Seven Small Piano Pieces (små klaverstykker), which is a collection that Holmboe chose and revised from M.23, 26, 51 and 114.

Anker Blyme recorded Suono da Bardo once before, and that recording was coupled with a performance of the Sonata for solo flute, op.71 (M.192) on LP (Fona TF 123).

The only other piano works to be recorded are a few fragments appearing on Erik Fessel's 2-disc set of Danish Piano Miniatures (Danacord DACOCD 434-35). The included pieces, each of which is only about a minute long, are the two pieces  published in "Pro Piano" in 1958/9 (M.x2P) and the 'Rigoroso' which is the third out of three pieces published in "Via Nova" in 1952 (M.x3P).