Presents
Joseph Holbrooke
Fairyland for Clarinet or Oboe or Flute, Viola & Piano, Op.57 No.1
Holbrooke's Fairyland, composed in 1911, takes its name and inspiration from a poem of the same name by the American poet and prose writer, Edgar Allan Poe. In this work, Holbrooke by means of frequent tempo changes, which only vary from Larghetto to Andante as well as delicate harmonies which accompany amorphous melodies. Holbrooke quotes the opening six lines of the poem in the piano score: "Dim vales and shadowy floods / And cloudy looking woods / Whose forms we can't discover / For the tears that drip all over! / Huge moons there wax and wane / Again, again---again." In short, this music conveys a latter day magic phantasy land on the same order as what Mendelssohn attempted in his Midsummer’s Night Dream. Our soundbite presents a littles than half the work.
Joseph Holbrooke (1878-1958) born near London in the town of Croydon. Both his parents were musicians and his early lessons were with his father. He was sent to the Royal Academy of Music in London and after graduating worked as a pianist and conductor, all the while composing. Eventually his big works for orchestra and chorus and his operas brought him considerable fame, however, after the First World War, he and his works fell into obscurity. He composed a considerable amount of chamber music, most of which is of a high quality and awaits rediscovery.
This quartet was widely regarded as one of the best of its type and received frequent performances, until it, like his other works, went out of vogue in the 1920's. Our of print for the better part of a century, we are pleased to make it available once again.
| (A) Clarinet, Viola & Piano | $17.95 |
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| (B) Oboe, Viola & Piano | $17.95 |
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| (C) Flute, Viola & Piano | $17.95 |
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| (D) All Five Parts | $24.95 |
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