A word about nomenclature. Holmboe composed 13 chamber concertos between 1939 and 1956 as a series with small-orchestral accompaniment, similar but not so homogeneous a set as Hindemith's Kammermusiken. Much later he renamed them just concerti, which is how BIS in its continuing series (coupled with other concertante works; this is the third issue) refers to them. Dacapo's integral set of the 13 curiously retained the chamber tag.
Irrespective of titles, they make a fine set.
The concertos are extremely diverse and may surprise those who know only the symphonies and quartets. Hannu Koivula's nicely paced and well-thought-through interpretations for Dacapo, although a touch studio-bound, set a formidable standard to follow. As with the Brass and Orchestral Concertos, Owain Arwel Hughes more than rises to that challenge with tempi usually a touch swifter and more urgent, and the recorded sound more resonant, giving a warmer sound picture of each work.
This is particularly true in the First Concerto for piano, strings and timpani, where Ogawa is more sympathetically placed and not recessed as was Anne Øland. Ogawa's technique is also the stronger and she shapes Holmboe's neoromantic lines even more splendidly than her rival.
In the Clarinet and Oboe Concertos honours are a little more even, though Martin Fröst and Gordon Hunt just shade the decision. There's a 'bigness' to Fröst's tone that Niels Thomsen cannot quite match and Hunt's incisive playing that's just about perfect. There's nothing inadequate about the Dacapo issues, but if you're in two minds about buying this newcomer consider the bonus of Holmboe's charming cantata Beatusparvo, a kind of concerto for amateur forces full of that marvellous luminosity that characterised so much of his music in his last decades.
Strongly recommended.