If pressed to name a famous 20th century Danish composer, most concert-goers would say, “Carl Nielsen”–after all, he wrote six symphonies that get performed every now and then. But if pressed to name a 20th century Danish composer who wrote thirteen symphonies, fewer would be able to say, “Vagn Holmboe, of course–and he also wrote 20 string quartets!”

To be fair, the works of Vagn Holmboe, a Dane who lived from 1909 to 1996, don’t show up on the programs of American orchestras or string quartets very often these days, which is a shame, since his music is quite intriguing.

The prolific Mr. Holmboe wrote as many string quartets as Bartok and Shostakovich’s combined, and both those composers influenced his style. Holmboe’s String Quartet No. 13, for examples, is in 5 movements, like some of Bartok’s, and premiered in Copenhagen on today’s date in 1976.

In addition to being a prolific composer and respected composition teacher, Holmboe was a nature lover: in 1939 he settled in the idyllic Danish countryside of Zealand, where he personally planted 3000 trees on his land by Lake Arreso.