According to his own notebook, Vagn Holmboe never had the opportunity to hear a performance of the complete Kairos work in its intended combined form.
Compositional Technique
The work Kairos consists of four individual Sinfonias (I-IV), each intended for standalone performance, but combined here by using the movements of Sinfonia IV to frame and separate the first three.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Holmboe's compositional principle, metamorphosis, which he developed in his symphonies and string quartets, encourages active listener participation by organically developing musical material.
Compositional Technique
Holmboe's method of combining the Sinfonias in Kairos, by splitting one work (Sinfonia IV) into fragments to frame others, differs from Darius Milhaud's approach to similar 'musical assembly kits'.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Vagn Holmboe, the composer, believed that in important music, details must be perceived in context and remembered to prevent gaps in comprehension and to form a cohesive whole.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Holmboe titled the work 'Kairos' to signify 'time in a psychological sense' – the experienced passing of time – contrasting it with 'kronos', which is chronological, measurable time.
Composition History
While Sinfonias I-III were composed between 1957 and 1958, the unifying Sinfonia IV was not written until 1962, with Holmboe composing other works in the interim.
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