Holbrooke: Violin Concerto ‘The Grasshopper’

Joseph Holbrooke is a fascinating and important figure in British music, and this is the first Naxos recording of his music. His Violin Sonata No. 1 – also called a Sonatina – is a bright, engaging and light-hearted work that owes something to his interest in popular song. His Violin Concerto, subtitled ‘The Grasshopper’, was published in full score and in two versions for violin and piano – including a ‘sonata’ version with a somewhat technically less demanding final movement. In this recording we present the original ‘concerto’ version. The Horn Trio took Brahms’s similar trio as a precedent, and is a work of great dignity and melodic appeal.