I have it on good authority that Howard Griffiths would not be averse to conducting some of Holbrooke's larger scale choral works with a British chorus if possible, but it will be up to CPO. There is more than one person encouraging CPO in this direction.
Were you-hypothetically of course-to be asked to recommend the contents for another disc of Holbrooke's orchestral music what would you suggest?
From my point of view I would like to see a coupling of "Queen Mab" and "The Bells", perhaps with the addition of the 2 orchestral songs, Op. 41a and 41b (Marino Faliero and Annabel Lee). However, if only another purely orchestral disk was on offer I would recommend the 2nd piano concerto "L'Orient", coupled with either The Dreamland Suite and the incidental music to Pontorewyn OR with the two ballets "The Red Masque" and "The Moth and the Flame". We shall just have to wait and see.
Interesting choices, Gareth. You have the advantage of probably knowing how long each of these works is in performance. I would put in a word for the Fantasie "The Wild Fowl", the Double Concerto "Tamerlane" for Clarinet and Bassoon (which is less than twenty minutes long) and, of course, the Symphony No.2 "Apollo and the Seaman".
