England's Greatest Symphonist - so shamefully and sadly neglected

[mercia]

Symphonic Variations on 3 Blind Mice opus 37a

Shame I wasn't around in the first half of the 20th Century, this work was performed almost yearly at the Proms (info. courtesy BBC Proms Archive)

(and according to Amazon there's a Beulah CD of Sir Henry Wood conducting the Queen's Hall Orchestra in this work)

[mercia]

Mr Grew, would it be horribly rude of me to ask how Eva is these days?

[salymap]

Thanks hercule for putting that on the boards. That's the one I read and has a lot of info. It's allrather sad really about Bantock, Holbrooke, etc;

[3rd Viennese School]

Looks like Berg.

[kernelbogey]

About a month ago it was playing in The Collector's Room in Salisbury

Chris - thanks for this: I didn't know about this shop and will now visit.

[Colonel Danby]

Josef Holbrooke was an interesting composer, but he was never as good as Ralph Vaughan Williams and he knew it. The likeness with Carl Nielsen and Ruud Langgaard is instructive: the Dane even wrote a short piece called "Carl Nielsen:our great composer!" setting doggerel texts (available on Chandos) with unique bitterness and bile.

Some composers are quite frankly not as good as others.

[Colonel Danby]

Bax of Delights, how did you manage to get your computer to generate that marvellous photo of Harriet Cohen and Arnold as your sign in to french frank's site?: I'm green with envy! I suppose that you have Lewis Foreman's book on the composer as I have, although I have the revised 2nd edition, which just has the portrait of Bax on the front cover.

I'm afraid that I really don't rate Ms Cohen as a pianist: her span across the keyboard was far too small, she was too afraid of others performing Bax's piano works written for her, and she couldn't stand Mary Gleaves.

Did you ever see that atrocious film with Ken Russell as Bax and Glenda Jackson as Harriet Cohen: it has to be seen to be believed.

[salymap]

Has the pic of Harriet and Bax been there long? I've just seen it for the first time. Just as much an over the top personality as Holbrooke IMO. As a librarian [no, I didn't know her], I had a long phone conversation with her just after Bax died. She didn't think much of the Beeb and gave strong opinions on many things, liberally laced with 'darlings' to me. My colleagues gathered round to listen but I felt sorry for her. There was a thread about the 'Daffodil' something on the old boards concerning her.

[mercia]

sorry to go off at a tangent, but I have just been reading an obituary of Gwydion, he sounds quite a character!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gwydion-brooke-531158.html

[Sydney Grew]

Here is some information about Holbrooke's "Illuminated Symphony," otherwise known as "Apollo and the Seaman." Actually many symphonies that are performed to-day would benefit from the same treatment; probably most people in the audience would welcome it. And the size and constitution of his orchestra is impressive is it not. There appears to have been no lack of performances in those more enlightened pre-war times.

[Any one know how to reduce the width of images?]

[salymap]

Did Beecham approve of Holbrooke,does anyone know? I think TB may have taken him up at one point, as he did with several little known composers. The sheer expense of rehearsing and collecting the large orchestra together must have been prohibitive though.

[Uncle Monty]

Did you ever see that atrocious film with Ken Russell as Bax and Glenda Jackson as Harriet Cohen: it has to be seen to be believed.

Yes, I have it here on the computer. It's a cracker, isn't it?! So utterly terrible, it's oddly compelling

Ken may have all sorts of talents, but acting isn't one of them. Or writing. (Have you seen his book about Elgar and Delius? As an Amazon reviewer said, "So bad , it's good.")

Tell me, are there any points where the film accidentally coincides with fact?

[mercia]

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67127

"Some of his music was championed by the young conductor Thomas Beecham"

[Uncle Monty]

By the way, the Dutton cd is available from HMV for £7.99 post-free.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Colonel Danby and salymap:

I managed to dig it out of google. If you just google Arnold Bax there's a section of photographs - I just "borrowed" one. When you see them all together, spanning different ages of AB's life you realise with a shock how grog-blossomed he had become in the last few years.
Yes, I have Foreman's 2nd edition biography. Intrigued how AB managed to keep Mary Coates a secret from Harriet Cohen for 20 years - and how he managed to juggle them both (as it were!).
Harriet Cohen doesn't come over as that endearing and some might say that her espousal of AB didn't do him any real favours in the long run. Salymap: your little snippets of day to day dealings with these musicians in the 40's and 50's is perenially fascinating! We are lucky to have you on board!
Best wishes both.

(edited to add:) I really wanted to unearth that photo of AB that resides in the British Library (Museum?) in which he is starkers but it would seem that it is not out in the public domain. And perhaps just as well, eh?