Holbrooke: Symphonic Poems - The Viking

This is the first in the series of works dedicated to the English composer Josef Holbrooke. Holbrooke’s musical output was wide-ranging, but it is his orchestral works in particular the symphonic poems that CPO has chosen to rediscover. Much of his music was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, including The Raven which was critically acclaimed at the time of its premiere in 1900. Performances of further orchestral poems, symphonies, solo concertos, and orchestral songs quickly and frequently followed, earning him a reputation as an innovative and original contemporary composer. His magnificent orchestral works deserve to be revived and there is no better interpreter than British conductor Howard Griffiths.