'Ib Nørholm renewed the classical tradition in post-war Denmark'
LINER NOTES · Ib Nørholm stands as the renewer of the classical tradition in post-war Danish music. Next week, his opera The Garden Wall (1976) will be performed in Copenhagen – Jens Brincker's liner notes for the album Tavole per Orfeo from 2012 give an introduction to the great Danish composer.
Copyright: Per Morten Abrahamsen
by Jens Brincker
Ib Nørholm (b. 24th January 1931) was already composing as a schoolboy, and by the time he left school he had already made his debut as a composer (with a piano sonatina performed at Det Unge Tonekunstnerselskab in 1947) and had written his first opera, The Snail and the Rose Hedge (1949, after Hans Christian Andersen). In 1950 he began studying music history and theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and took his organist diploma (1955). As an organist, music critic (on the newspaper Information, 1956-64) and not least as a composer, he quickly became one of the central personalities in the circle of young composers who represented -contemporary Copenhagen musical life.
These young composers shared the feeling of being at a dead end. The traditional aesthetic that prevailed at and was spread from the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen had lost its attraction for the young. A new inspiration was necessary, and they took it from the ISCM festivals in Rome (1959) and Cologne (1960) and from the citadel of serialism, the summer courses at Darmstadt where Stockhausen, Boulez, Maderna and Nono were the pace-setters.
Ib Nørholm made the pilgrimage to the international music centres with his friends. He saw, listened and learned. And he became one of the leading figures in the new departure in Danish music that took place at the beginning of the 1960s with FLUXUS festivals and the ISCM festival in Copenhagen in 1964 as milestones. Major works from these years are Fluctuations, which won the Dutch Gaudeamus Prize in 1964, and the TV opera Invitation to a Beheading (1965), which combines twelve-tone technique with collage principles.
1965 became the crucial dividing-line in Ib Nørholm's development as a composer. That year he began on a project that has proved fruitful for more than 40 years, and has resulted in more than 150 works with the piano work Strophes and Fields (opus 33, 1965) as the first, epoch-making step. Briefly, the project involves combining the expressive potential of modernism with lyrical-melodic expressiveness, which was in Ib Nørholm's blood; or, put differently, saying goodbye to aesthetic prejudices about what one should and should not do; and welcoming the compositional craftsmanship that makes it possible to do what one wants.
With this goal Ib Nørholm could look at the classical genres and forms - symphony, opera, string quartet, piano Lied - with present-day eyes. Eleven symphonies from no. 2, Isola bella (1968-71) to no. 12, Realities (2009), four operas from The Young Park (1970) to The Revenge of Truth (1985), a wealth of chamber-music works and songs, as well as monumental works for voice and orchestra such as The Elf-Mirror (1995-96) and The Bell (2005, after Hans Christian Andersen's tale) document the strength with which Ib Nørholm has pursued his goal through almost half a century. By virtue of these and many other precisely formulated and expressive works Ib Nørholm stands as the renewer of the classical tradition in post-war Danish music.
The age did not fail to recognize this. For almost 40 years from 1963 until 2001, Ib Nørholm was a sought-after, highly appreciated composition teacher; first at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, then from 1972 at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where in 1981 he took up the professorial chair of composition that had been vacant since Vagn Holmboe's departure in 1965. There he influenced generations of young composers with his ideals of the obligations of technical skill and artistic freedom that took over from the former harmony of conservatory and conservatism.
Ib Nørholm retired as the professor of composition when he turned 70 in 2001. But not as a composer. About fifty works have come during his retirement. He is still renewing himself and the musical scene from which he came.
Read the rest of Jens Brincker's liner notes for Tavole per Orfeo.
IB NØRHOLM
Tavole per Orfeo
Else Torp, soprano
Per Pålsson, guitar
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Ib Nørholm
Americana
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Ib Nørholm
Tavole per Orfeo
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Ib Nørholm
Choral Works
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Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen, Jesper Koch, Lars Hegaard, Ib Nørholm, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
Five Danish Piano Trios
Ib Nørholm valfartede med vennerne til de internationale musikcentre. Han så, lyttede og lærte. Og han blev en af hovedmændene i det opbrud i dansk musik der fandt sted i begyndelsen af 1960'erne med FLUXUS festivaler og ISCM festivalen i København 1964 som milepæle. Hovedværker fra disse år er Fluktuationer der fik den hollandske Gaudeamus pris 1964, og TV-operaen Invitation til Skafottet (1965) der forener tolvtoneteknik og collageprincipper.
1965 blev den afgørende skillelinje i Ib Nørholms udvikling som komponist. Det år indledte han et projekt som har vist sig frugtbart i mere end 40 år, og har resulteret i mere end 150 værker med klaverværket Strofer og marker (opus 33, 1965) som det første og skelsættende. Kort fortalt går projektet ud på at forene modernismens udtryksmuligheder med den lyrisk-melodiske udtryksfuldhed, som lå Ib Nørholm i blodet. Eller anderledes sagt: At sige farvel til æstetiske fordomme om hvad man må og skal; og goddag til et kompositionsteknisk håndværk der gør det muligt at udtrykke, hvad man vil.
Med denne målsætning kunne Ib Nørholm se på de klassiske genrer og former - symfoni, opera, strygekvartet, klaverlied - med nutidige øjne. 11 symfonier fra nr. 2 Isola bella (1968-71) til nr. 12 Virkeligheder (2009), fire operaer fra Den unge park (1970) til Sandhedens hævn (1985), talrige kammermusikværker og sange samt monumentale værker for sang og orkester som Elverspejl (1995-96) og Klokken (2005 efter H.C. Andersens eventyr) dokumenterer den styrke, hvormed Ib Nørholm har forfulgt sit mål gennem næsten et halvt århundrede. I kraft af disse og mange andre, præcist formulerede og udtryksfulde, værker står Ib Nørholm som fornyer af den klassiske tradition i efterkrigstidens danske musik.
Det gik ikke samtiden forbi. Gennem næsten 40 år fra 1963 til 2001 var Ib Nørholm en søgt og skattet kompositionslærer. Først på Det fynske Musikkonservatorium, fra 1972 på Det Kgl. Danske Musikkonservatorium, hvor han i 1981 udfyldte det kompositions-professorat, der havde stået ubesat siden Vagn Holmboes afgang i 1965. Her prægede han generationer af unge komponister med sine idealer om forpligtende teknisk kunnen og kunstnerisk frihed, der afløste tidligere tiders samklang af konservatorium og konservatisme.
Ib Nørholm holdt op som kompositionsprofessor, da han fyldte 70 år i 2001. Men ikke som komponist. Omkring et halvt hundrede værker er kommet til efter pensioneringen. Han fornyer stadig sig selv og det musikliv, han er rundet af.
Læs resten af Jens Brinckers liner notes til Tavole per Orfeo.