ABSTRACT
If someone were to draw up a balance sheet on Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen in light of his impending sixtieth birthday, then one of the points would have to be that he has consistently tried to avoid the musical mainstream. When he says his position is on the sidelines of Danish music, it either comes from a lack of self-knowledge or is an affectation, for Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen is one of the most important figures in Danish composition. As befitting his reputation as ‘established outsider; he is on bad terms with good taste. Compromises are non-existent for Gudmundsen-Holmgreen; he shows pronounced scepticism towards the possibilities of our culture in general, and an unbending black outlook on life in particular If one philosophy of life and art approaches that of Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, it must be the absurdism of Samuel Beckett. In his own words:
