Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) wrote many concertos and 13 numbered symphonies, but the string quartet was his favoured genre with 21 (the last completed by his pupil Per Nørgård). Holmboe did not write his designated String Quartet No 1 until reaching the age of 40, but composed at least ten during the preceding two decades, some unfinished. The first of these early quartets, dating from Holmboe’s late teens, impressed Carl Nielsen enough to admit him into the Danish Music Academy. Holmboe called the 1949 quartet his First because he felt it was the first time his voice as a mature composer could be heard. He fashioned a system of organic development of small motifs, which remained the characteristic bedrock of his music. He was also an accomplished violinist, ensuring his string writing was idiomatic.

Vagn Holmboe