Joseph Holbrooke; Haydn Wood - Piano Concertos (Hamish Milne)

Information

Composer: Joseph Holbrooke; Haydn Wood

• (01-09) Holbrooke - Piano Concerto No. 1 "The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd", Op. 52: Part I
• (10-13) Holbrooke - Piano Concerto No. 1 "The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd", Op. 52: Part II
• (14-22) Holbrooke - Piano Concerto No. 1 "The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd", Op. 52: Part III
• (23-25) Wood - Piano Concerto in D minor

Hamish Milne, piano
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Date: 1999
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67127

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Review

Superlative performances of two forgotten British gems - neither a masterpiece but irresistible for anyone with a sweet tooth

I confess to having been frustratingly underwhelmed, in the past, by what little I have heard of the Croydon-born composer and pianist Joseph Holbrooke (1878-1958). But the present ambitious First Piano Concerto (first performed by Harold Bauer under the composer's baton in November 1910) is by some margin the most impressive orchestral piece of his I've yet encountered. Dubbed a symphonic poem by its creator, it follows the narrative of a poem based on a Welsh legend by his patron Lord Howard de Walden (writing under the pseudonym of T E Ellis) entitled The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd (the full text of which is printed in the admirable booklet), yet, as annotator Lewis Foreman correctly observes, the work can also be appreciated perfectly well as a red-blooded romantic concerto, very much in the grand tradition.

On first acquaintance, I wondered whether Holbrooke's music had a strong enough thematic profile, but a second hearing soon uncovered plenty of ideas securely lodged in the memory bank (you somehow just know that the first movement's gorgeous second subject is destined to reappear in all its grandiloquent glory before the end). And there's no denying the deft resourcefulness and vaulting sweep with which Holbrooke handles proceedings. What's more, it receives an outstandingly eloquent, tirelessly committed treatment here - clearly the product of many hours of painstaking preparation.

Before he made his name in the field of light music, Haydn Wood (1882-1959) was a gifted violinist and composition pupil of Stanford at the Royal College of Music. Indeed, it was Stanford who conducted the Queen's Hall premiere of Wood's big-boned D minor Concerto in July 1909. It's an altogether more straightforward, less individual confection than it's partner. Greig's Concerto is the obvious template, and there are plentiful stylistic echoes throughout ot Tchaikovskys, Rachmaninov and MacDowell. The opening movement is full of effective display and boasts a ravishing secondary idea. Tuttis incline to overthickness (a recurring problem in both outer movements), yet there's some delightfully transparent scoring elsewhere (try from the start of the first-movement development section at 6'56''). The finale starts promisingly (th unison horns at the outset imediately call to mind the start of Tchaikovsky's First Concerto), but tends to lose its way. By far the best music comes in the central Andante - a genuinely haunting, deeply felt essay, boasting some wistfully fragrant orchestral sonorities. Not a great work, by any means, but incurable romantics will devour it. Again, the performance is securely in the luxury class, as are the Keener/Faulkner production-values.

An altogether exemplary release, then. Perhaps these same artists might now be persuaded to turn their attentions to Edgar Bainton's substantial Concerto-Fantasia of 1922 (a bewitching creation which Hamish Milne has already so eloquently championed on the BBC) ?

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 7 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holbrooke-Wood-Concertos-Martyn-Brabbins/dp/B00004I9T2

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Joseph Holbrooke (5 July 1878 – 5 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He attended Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under Frederick Corder for composition and Frederick Westlake for piano. Holbrooke was a late-Romantic composer, writing in a predominantly tonal, though richly chromatic, idiom. Although he was deeply interested in promoting his music, only a small fraction of Holbrooke's large output has been recorded. The advent of the compact disc has brought a revival of interest, including records by Marco Polo, Hyperion, CPO, Dutton, Naxos and Cameo Classics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Holbrooke

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Haydn Wood (25 March 1882 – 11 March 1959) was a 20th-century English composer and a concert violinist. Wood attended the Royal College of Music, where he studied violin with Enrique Fernández Arbós and composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. He also studied with César Thomson in Brussels. Wood was a prolific composer of orchestral music, primarily in the "light music" style. His works include 15 suites, 9 rhapsodies, 8 overtures, 3 concertante pieces and nearly 50 other assorted works, including 180 individual songs. During his lifetime, Wood gained considerable success from his works, particularly his songs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haydn_Wood

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Hamish Milne (born 27 April 1939, Salisbury) is a British pianist known for his advocacy of Nikolai Medtner. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he now teaches, and later in Italy under Guido Agosti. One of Britain’s leading pianists over several decades, Hamish Milne has appeared as soloist with most of the leading British orchestras and has given over two hundred broadcasts for the BBC. In the 1970s, Milne was the first pianist to offer a comprehensive survey of the music of Medtner since the composer made his own records in the 78s era. He has recorded for Chandos, CRD, Danacord, Decca and Hyperion labels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_Milne

http://www.hamishmilne.com/

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