Brahms by Arrangement, Vol. Two: Orchestrations by Robin Holloway

Featuring

Paul Mann
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Johannes Brahms
Robert Schumann
Robin Greville Holloway

Did you know?

1/7

Interpretation

Robin Holloway's orchestrations, like Stravinsky's reworkings, derive much of their fascination from the composer's own creative involvement, particularly in instrumentation.

Composer Biography

Robin Holloway, born in 1943, spent his entire teaching career at the University of Cambridge, retiring as a professor of composition in 2011.

Composition History

Robin Holloway's creative engagement with the music of the past was decisively influenced by his absorption in the music of Schumann, beginning in 1970.

Performer Biography

Paul Mann, the conductor on this album, first gained international attention by winning the 1998 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, leading to his appointment as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Compositional Technique

Robin Holloway's orchestrations do not adhere to the original composers' practices, using techniques like multi-dividing strings or 'Bartók' snap pizzicati, which were not available in their time.

Historical Context

Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 23, uses Robert Schumann's 'last musical idea,' which he dictated in a delusion from the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Robin Holloway believes that "recycling its past by imitation, stealing, eating, transforming, is absolutely normative, and always has been. Pure originality is the unusual thing."