I have just been informed that CPO have planned a third CD of music by Joseph Holbrooke. It will contain: Symphony No. 3 "Ships"; Orchestral Variations on "The Girl I Left Behind Me" and the tone poem "The Birds of Rhiannon". The orchestra is the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken/Kaiserlautern under Howard Griffiths and the recording sessions are scheduled for the end of January 2016. This will be a very important CD.
Unfortunately, there is still no definite news about the release date of CPO's second Holbrooke CD (recorded nearly 2 years ago), which contains the "Grasshopper" Violin Concerto, the Orchestral Variations on "Auld Lang Syne" and the tone poem "The Raven", except that it should be sometime next year (2016). Let us hope so. The orchestra was the Brandenburgishes Staatsorchester under Howard Griffiths and the soloist in the concerto was Judith Ingolfsson. Let us hope it will not long be delayed.
Thanks for this news, Gareth. I echo your comments 100%...
As do I. Cpo's release delays are both inexplicable and hugely frustrating aren't they?
Yes indeed, but I think this will certainly be worth the wait! My only disappointment is the decision to include The Birds of Rhiannon, which already has a couple of recordings, when there are so many unknown and unheard orchestral works in the Holbrooke oeuvre (of around 150).
Still, it will be interesting to hear how The Birds fly alongside the distinguished LPO/Handley version on Lyrita. ::)
I have just been informed that CPO's second disk of orchestral music by Holbrooke is scheduled for release in September.
That's very good news, thanks. It's been a long time coming ...
I have just been privileged to hear the first edits of CPO's third Holbrooke CD and can report that the playing and conducting are superb. Howard Griffiths really understands Holbrooke's music. There is a delicacy and lucidity about the performances which is exactly what is needed. I hope the disk will be released hot on the heels of the second one.
Due out in Germany on 19th September:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/joseph-holbrooke-violinkonzert-op-59-the-grasshopper/hnum/4100515 (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/joseph-holbrooke-violinkonzert-op-59-the-grasshopper/hnum/4100515)
Ahh, excellent!
My copy arrived this morning. First impressions are of some fine orchestral playing, a sumptuous recording - and a very fine soloist in Judith Ingolfsson. This is going to give hours of pleasure: Holbrooke is a resourceful composer who can write a tune within an attractive late romantic idiom - but who also clearly has a witty side to his character.
Just the job for members of UC - and kudos to Gareth Vaughan for his championing of this music!
I'm greatly looking forward to hearing it, and it's great to see all Gareth's efforts now bearing fruit. Ingolfsson is indeed excellent - I saw her play Raff's 2nd Violin Concerto in Switzerland some 12 years ago and she made a wonderful job of it.
Quotebut who also clearly has a witty side to his character.
That is so true, Alan. Because Holbrooke is mainly known for writing large works inspired by "gloomy" subjects (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe or The Mabinogion) his light music is forgotten - and he truly was a distinguished writer of dance music. After all, he wrote a number of ballets, and dance informs a lot of his work. A CD devoted entirely to Jo's light music would be a delight.
Very glad you like the disk. I think the orchestral playing, and the recording are both first class. Howard Griffiths really understands Holbrooke (as I've probably said before - apologies).
I still very much believe in Holbrooke from what I've been able to hear (heaven knows far more these days, mostly thanks to Marco Polo and Dutton), despite his uncontrolledness. Anything I can hear is always welcome. The CD with Aucassin and Nicolette gave us a nice insight into his lighter side. I love the Saxophone concerto!
I think I should let members know that, at long last, there is a chance that the third cpo disk of orchestral music by Josef Holbrooke will be released soon. Why do I say this? Because I have just finished writing the CD booklet notes. I was asked to undertake this about 3 weeks ago because the outstandingly competent Franz Groborz, a great devotee of Holbrooke, was unable to do so owing to pressure of work. So, fingers crossed. The music on the 3rd CD is: The Birds of Rhiannon; Variations on "The Girl I Left Behind Me" and the Symphony no. 3, "Ships" - all in very fine performances, I can say.
Definitely looking forward to this, Gareth.
The Symphony No.3 will be a premiere recording won't it? Very good news.
Yes, "Ships" will be a premiere, and also the first complete performance since its first and only performance in 1936 in Budapest.
Wow. We do live in wonderful times for unsung music, don't we?
Premiere of the complete work, anyway - I think there's a recording on Symposium of the finale only (possibly from that 1936 performance maybe?..., 1992 CD) conducted by Clarence Raybould - Worldcat (http://worldcat.org/title/joseph-holbrooke/oclc/34476150&referer=brief_results). (Ah. No, according to "Joseph Holbrooke: Composer, Critic, and Musical Patriot" the performance issued on the 1992 CD of the finale only is dated June 24, 1937. So its only complete performance was on 3/30/1936 (conducted by Zoltán Sámy), but it did have at least the one fragmentary performance otherwise...)
How many of his 9 (according to the aforementioned book Joseph Holbrooke: Composer, Critic, and Musical Patriot - Op.48 of 1906 to Op.122 of the 1940s) symphonies survive in performable form, by the way?
Eric,
The one and only complete performance of symphony no. 3 was the 1936 performance in Budapest under Zoltan Samy. The Raybould recording was not even of the Finale but of an excerpt from the Finale lasting about 3 minutes IIRC (you can hear it on a Symposium CD). Hardly worth the effort of recording it. All this information is given in my booklet notes.
As to the rest of the symphonies, scores and parts exist for all of them, with the exception of Symphony no. 8, the so called "Dance Symphony", which is really a piano concerto and a close companion of the 2nd piano concerto. It exists only in a 2-piano score and would need to be orchestrated, though this could quite easily be done, following the scoring of the 2nd PC. It would be nice if Martin Yates could be interested in the task.
Would you elaborate what you mean by "close companion" with regards to Symphony 8 and PC no. 2
Symphony no. 8 is really a piano concerto and, indeed, the composer sometimes called it Piano Concerto no. 3. It consists of 3 movts illustrative of different dance genres. The 2nd PC, "L'Orient", is in the same mould: 3 dance movts.
This is such an informative thread, and so typical of UC. It's a privilege to have access to such knowledgeable people.
The new CD has just been announced for release:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/joseph-holbrooke-symphonie-nr-3-ships/hnum/8456430 (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/joseph-holbrooke-symphonie-nr-3-ships/hnum/8456430)
Good news indeed.
Hear, hear, Mark.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Tuesday 04 December 2018, 09:54
Symphony no. 8 is really a piano concerto and, indeed, the composer sometimes called it Piano Concerto no. 3. It consists of 3 movts illustrative of different dance genres. The 2nd PC, "L'Orient", is in the same mould: 3 dance movts.
This is very reminiscent of Jan van Gilse's
Three Dance Sketches (
Drei Tanzskizzen) from 1929, also a de facto piano concerto based on dance themes. From the opus number it seems as though Holbrooke's symphony was written around the same time.
Often musicologists play the "who influenced whom" game, especially when it comes to unsungs who aren't judged to be capable of having generated an original idea, and no doubt they'd have fun in this case of Holbrooke and van Gilse, but often ideas are just "in the air" amongst contemporaries giving rise to similar compositions seeing the light of day at around the same time. Reznicek's "Dance Symphony" (not a piano concerto-alike) dates form 1924 I see.
I don't think Joseph was influenced by any other composers in his 2 "dance" concertos. He was brought up in the Music Halls and wrote a lot of dance music throughout his life: ballets, suites, etc. Much of it is light in character and all is attractive and well-scored. It would repay exploring by an enterprising company.
Yes, I don't think this is a question of who influenced whom; but the use of dance rhythms by "art composers" in the 1920s is interesting nonetheless. It might be a question of wanting to incorporate elements of jazz, popular at the time and considered to be a much more "rebellious" form of music. Van Gilse's concerto is very jazzy, as is for instance Eduard Künneke's.
You are quite right, Ilja, But Joseph was always interested in dance and "light" music and I really do think it stemmed from his (or rather his father's) Music Hall background. You can hear it in some of the rather "louche" chromatic harmonies in his more serious works (e.g. the Piano Concerto "Song of Gwyn ap Nudd").
Thanks, Gareth - interesting insights. I'll be listening with refreshed ears!
Holbrooke definitely had a love of the popular. All those variations on extremely well-known and easy tunes like Three Blind Mice, Auld Lang Syne and of course the Ships Finale (I have an earworm of 'We'll go no more a-rovin'" now. I suppose he was more the Cockney Mahler than Wagner.
I admire Holbrooke immensely for his sense of mastery, but his 3rd Symphony doesn't really do much for me - the humour's a bit too 'laid on'. However, The Birds of Rhiannon is something else. It is absolutely superb, beautifully written for the orchestra and quite unforgettable in its sense of mystery.
We must be exceedingly grateful to cpo for giving us so much Holbrooke to enjoy - particularly in such committed and well-prepared performances as we have here.
I'm not sure I understand your remark, Alan, about the humour in "Ships" - I don't think there is (or is meant to be) any. There is humour in the Variations on "The Girl I Left Behind Me" and if you found that too 'laid on', I concede you might not be far off the mark. Josef was not always known for his subtlety. What stands out for me, among other things, in both "Ships" and the Variations ("The Birds of Rhiannon" too, of course) is the magnificently imaginative and effective orchestration - undoubtedly Holbrooke's forte IMHO.
QuoteHow many of his 9 ... symphonies survive in performable form, by the way?
Mea maxima culpa, Eric. I never answered your question from months back. Nos. 1-7 exist in full scores and parts (mostly MSS); No. 8, as I explained, exists only in a 2-piano score, but could be orchestrated without too much difficulty - and, in any case, is really a piano concerto; No. 9 "Milton", supposedly a choral symphony, does not seem to exist (if, indeed, it ever did!) - there was also supposed to be another choral symphony, "Blake", which Josef never finished and which has apparently disappeared; there is, however, a late "Symphonietta in D major" for winds and brass, Op. 111, which seems to have been written about the same time as No. 8, the score and parts for which are extant.
I hope this helps.
I suppose what I meant, Gareth, in my ham-fisted way, was that the finale of 'Ships' occasionally put me in mind of Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs. Of course, Holbrooke is many times more sophisticated than Wood, but the thought remains...
Sorry! My fault, I know. And the virtuosity of the orchestral writing is absolutely mind-blowing...
I quite understand, Alan. I never think of you as 'ham fisted'!
I didn't express myself very clearly, though.
My goodness, didn't Holbrooke know how to handle the orchestra...
As a trivial aside, The Birds of Rhiannon was premiered in 1923 at Hastings Pier! Such a humble venue for such a great work.
OOC, I think the cpo recording of Ships has since come out- any opinions?