Joseph Holbrooke - Symphonic Poems (Howard Griffiths)

Information

Composer: Joseph Holbrooke

• Amontillado, Op. 123
• The Viking, Op. 32 (after H.W. Longfellow, the Skeleton in Armour)
• Three Blind Mice Variations, Op. 37
• Ulalume, Op. 35

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt

Howard Griffiths, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: CPO

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joseph-Holbrooke-1878-1958-Symphonische-Werke/hnum/9595472

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Josef Holbrooke (1878-1958), like his countryman Granville Bantock, wrote a large quantity of colorful orchestral music in a well-crafted, slightly Straussian vein; but like so many of his contemporaries both at home and abroad, he seemed unable to “let go” and indulge in the sort of decadent orchestral gluttony we expect and demand from the best turn-of-the-century composers. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to enjoy here. Amontillado and Ulalume are both based on stories/poems by Edgar Allan Poe. The former is surprisingly chipper given the subject matter, at least until the end, but Ulalume is wonderfully atmospheric and twilit.

The variations on Three Blind Mice are, as you might expect, cute and fun, but you can’t help harboring the nagging suspicion that a quarter of an hour of it is perhaps too much of a good thing. Holbrooke’s symphonic poem The Viking also tends to overstay its welcome: it needs a really good tune and never quite manages to deliver one, but it has compelling episodes once it gets moving. Howard Griffiths and his Frankfurters deliver committed performances, with only the strings sounding a touch thin and scruffy now and again (and never seriously so). The sonics are quite good. Worth a listen.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/10/holbrooke-brandenburg-orchestra

https://www.allmusic.com/album/josef-holbrooke-amontillado-the-viking-ulalume-mw0001870005

https://www.amazon.com/Holbrooke-Symphonic-Amontillado-Viking-Ulalume/dp/B002586YH8

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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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Howard Griffiths (born 24 February 1950 in Hastings) is a British conductor. Griffiths studied music at the Royal College of Music, London, and has lived in Switzerland since 1981. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 1996 to 2006. Since the season 2007/08, he is General Music Director of the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, and has also appeared as a guest conductor with many leading orchestras all over the world. Griffiths has a broad repertoire, with about 100 CD recordings with various labels (including Warner, Universal, cpo, Sony and Koch).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Griffiths_(conductor)

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