Josef Holbrooke Symphonic Poems

[sdtom]

4 program works which I am just beginning to listen to.  One of them was a bit much as it consisted of 14 minutes of variation of 'Three Blind Mice'

[Gareth Vaughan]

But what highly inventive variations! A great fun piece and one of Sir Henry Woods' favourites. I reported on this disk under the topic "Josef Holbrooke" as I was instrumental in getting the music recorded. As I said, I think Howard Griffiths and the Brandenburgers play Holbrooke superbly and really understand his idiom, which seems to elude most modern conductors. Holbrooke is a brilliant orchestrator and possesses a truly individual voice as a composer. As you will have realised, I am something of a Holbrooke champion!

[Mark Thomas]

My own first reactions to the Three Blind Mice Variations were a mite negative too but, once you've listened a couple of times, you realise just how witty and impishly clever they are. I was reminded of Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Song, which is "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" of course. The other three works on the CD have real power and dramatic force but these Variations show another, more unbuttoned but just as masterful, side to Holbrooke's compositional character. I do hope that this release is a success for cpo. I'd love to have more of his music from Griffiths and the Brandenburgers.

[sdtom]

So far I've found the Poe work "Amontillado" and "The Viking" most interesting.  I'm now of course wondering about the other 34 pieces he did on Poe material.

[Gareth Vaughan]

"Ulalume", of course, is another Poe inspired piece - and a very fine one, in my view. His first symphonic poem is "The Raven", based on Poe's poem of that name. It has been recorded before by Marco Polo - a dreary performance which does it no credit whatsoever. Howard Griffiths is interested in committing it to disk.
Other Poe pieces are: Dramatic Choral Symphony "Hommage to E.A. Poe"; the orchestral song "Annabel Lee"; the nonet "Irene"; the ballet "The Red Masque"; the late tone poem "The Pit & the Pendulum" (premiered by the Lambeth Orchestra under Chris Fifield last December); the late Fantasy-Sonata for piano "The Haunted Palace" (based on themes from the Dramatic Choral Symphony mentioned earlier) and at least 2 of the Op. 121 Nocturnes.

[Amphissa]

 
Holbrooke was not the only unsung who wrote music directly inspired by Poe. Myaskovsky's op. 9 symphonic poem Silence was based on Poe's "The Raven."  André Caplet's Conte fantastique was based on "The Masque of the Red Death" and Florent Schmitt's etude called Le palais hante was based on Poe's "The Haunted Palace." I think I've heard all recordings of the Myaskovsky, but I have never heard either of these other two compositions. Have they been recorded?

Are there other works by unsungs based on Poe?

My favorite work based on Poe, which is not by an unsung composer, but is a relatively lesser known work by a very sung composer, is Rachmaninoff's "The Bells," which used as its text a rather loose translation of the Poe poem into Russian by Balmont.

[TerraEpon]

Obviously not an unsung composer, but perhaps an unsung work -- Debussy's Fall of the House of Usher, which was reconstructed and orchestrated (in both a 24 minute version and a 56 minute one) is IMO quite worthwhile a listen. Not the best Debussy but it's very much his style.

[JimL]

Dave, I read the program of Myaskovsky's Silence on that website you linked me to on the last Forum.  I assure you that it has absolutely nothing to do with The Raven!  I'm not sure if it was a poem or some kind of short story, but it was a completely different work of Poe.

[Amphissa]

 
Not sure what I was thinking about. The Myaskovsky piece called Silence was obviously not based on "The Raven." It was based on Poe's fable by the same name -- "Silence."

Duh.

BTW - you can read the fable here:

http://www.classicreader.com/book/452/1/

[Pengelli]

Hello everyone. Received this cd today & enjoyed every minute of it. Best performances of Holbrooke I have ever heard. Thankyou to Gareth & all concerned.

[Amphissa]

 
Welcome to the unsung corner, Pengelli.

[sdtom]

Not sure what I was thinking about. The Myaskovsky piece called Silence was obviously not based on "The Raven." It was based on Poe's fable by the same name -- "Silence."

Duh.

BTW - you can read the fable here:


http://www.classicreader.com/book/452/1/

The notes in the CD booklet specifically talk about the Poe poem The Raven

Thomas

[Amphissa]

I have also seen it linked to Poe's poem "Silence," which is quite different from the fable in feel and subject. Given the music itself, I really do not think the poem is likely.

I've nboted a number of sources that say he wrote a symphonic poem dated 1910 called Nevermore  based on Poe's "The Raven." But I am aware of no such symphonic poem by Myaskovsky.

The link to "The Raven" may have derived from an error that has been perpetuated over time. An example is here -- at the bottom of this page just before the References. Note that the author states that Myaskovsky's biographer Ikonnikov attributes the op. 9 to Poe's "The Raven." However, I have the biography right here in front of me and it does not - at least this English translation does not. It indicates that Op. 9 is an "allegorical poem" after Poe, but does not specify which of Poe's works.

Just from listening to Silence, to me it has much greater affinity to the fable by the same title. "The Raven" has lots of repetition and is very structured. The fable is more fluid, as is the music. And the music has passages that I easily hear as churning waters and a frightening world.

I haven't delved into this issue for years. Since I last looked at it, a book of Prokofiev's letters has been published, and I believe there may be a good deal of correspondence between the two men in the collection. Silence dates from their time together at the conservatory, as it was a student work by Myaskovsky. Maybe I'll try to look at the letters to see whether there is any mention of it.

[sdtom]

http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/silencemiaskovsky/

I reviewed this sometime back.
Thomas

[Amphissa]

As a fun exercise, you might try reading Poe's fable "Silence" while listening to Myaskovsky's Silence, op. 9.

I find it interesting that Poe also wrote a poem called "Silence" and that Myaskovsky also wrote music for a song that he titled Silence (posth.) All of which just confuses the matter more.

I personally believe the liner notes accompanying that CD are incorrect, perpetuating the previous incorrect reference to the biography.

But we've gotten off the subject of Holbrooke, and I'm curious if there are other pieces by unsungs not yet mentioned that were directly linked to Poe.