Search - Holloway, London So, Thomas :: 3rd Concerto for Orchestra

Robin Holloway (b. 1943) is one of England's brighter lights in contemporary classical music who has managed to walk the fine line between romanticism and modernism without thumbing his nose at either along the way. Holloway's music is assertively atonal and if you are familiar with the music of Tippett, Rawsthorne, or Hoddinott you will take very well to this music. The Third Concerto for Orchestra is very recent--composed in 1994. It's atonal but not serial; textural rather than thematic. It's a true concerto for orchestra in that every instrument (and every instrument combination) gets a turn at bat and is, all the while, intellectually riveting. Clearly, the concerto for orchestra is a more adaptive format for Holloway's ideas than, say, the symphony and the performance of the LSO in first-rate. --Paul Cook