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The Radio 3 Boards > The Music Boards > Music Through The Ages > 21st Century > Holt. Let's talk about Holt.
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Author Topic: Holt. Let's talk about Holt.  (Read 476 times)
martle
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« on: 22:06:56, 04-05-2007 »
Ok, so this is my 'good' MB deed for the day, after spending far too much time on pix and stuff.

But it's not gratuitous. I'll declare an interest upfront and say that I've known Simon Holt for a very long time, and like him very much. But I've had a rather tortuous relationship with his music over the years. Starting this thread is partly prompted by the observation that his name has cropped up so little on various other threads where you might expect it to: he's hardly an unknown, or peripheral composer in the UK.

For me, I have come to respect and admire his music more and more, particularly in recent years. It seems to me to be very individual, brilliantly inventive, colourful, gesturally vivid and dramatic. I still have problems with a lot of it - harmony and strctural cogency in particular - but I know of no other composer who sounds like him - even remotely, actually.

Thoughts?
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time_is_now
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« Reply #1 on: 22:24:08, 04-05-2007 »
Erm. Well. Yes, yes, yes and yes. I like Simon very much indeed, and when I was first interested in contemporary music (which I should clarify was long before I knew him in person) I thought I liked his music. In fact, I think I might still like the piece I knew best at that time, Daedalus Remembers, though I haven't heard it now for - oh - ten years or something.

Then at various more recent points in time I've had to review pieces by him, or just listen to pieces by him, and had quite serious problems with them. Especially in the areas of harmony and structural cogency that you mention. More specifically, the middle- and long-range harmonic planning seems to be quite seriously faulty (veering quite wildly between two equally problematic extremes, one too 'tonal'/pitch-centred and static, the other too 'atonal' and random), with all the knock-on effects on structural cogency that that implies.

I'm going to focus on the words 'seems to be' in that last sentence, and say that I still find some pieces successful, and more to the point there are very few pieces that don't have something engaging or intriguing, often in terms of texture and colour, and I'd like to think that one day I'll suddenly realise that I'm just expecting a different kind of harmony and structure from what I'm being offered, and that the fault's all mine, and that the music offers something very original and quite unique and special.

Would be interested in knowing which other music you (or anyone else) would compare Holt's with?
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
roslynmuse
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« Reply #2 on: 22:25:56, 04-05-2007 »
Thoughts - I have lots of tapes of pieces of his from the old days when R3 used to broadcast such repertoire on a more regular basis. I have to say that little of it grabbed me enough to want to return to it at the time, but having been reminded of him, maybe I should seek a few of those pieces out...

A quick look at the Chester-Novello site reminded me of some of the titles that I have - Syrensong, Capriccio Spettrale, Lilith, Sparrow Night, Tauromaquia - all 80s/ early 90s I think.

Any particular recommendations, Martle, or should I just take the plunge?
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martle
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« Reply #3 on: 22:37:14, 04-05-2007 »
Quote from: time_is_now on 22:24:08, 04-05-2007
Would be interested in knowing which other music you (or anyone else) would compare Holt's with?

Tinners, well he himself would undoubtedly acknowledge the influence of PMD, and later - and far more centrally - Birtwistle. His teacher, Anthony Gilbert, I know had a major impact, but not so much in terms of his stylistic influence on Holt. Birtwistle can be heard, I think, particularly in SH's work of the 80s and earlier 90s, but thereafter his work becomes far more individual and harder to pin to any direct or obvious influences.

rm, I have particularly enjoyed the Two Movements for string quartet (actually quite stunning), and the violin concerto, 'Witness to a Snow Miracle'. Check out those gems. The 'opera', Who Put Bella in the Wych Tree, I found disappointing dramatically, but contained some tremendous music nonetheless.
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jennyhorn
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« Reply #4 on: 22:51:58, 10-05-2007 »
Martle-i agree,the violin concerto is an excellent piece....i think the computer set scores (different working method) are an exciting development in his work. The set of clarinet pieces (candles?) i also liked.
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jennyhorn
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« Reply #5 on: 22:53:01, 10-05-2007 »
forgive me-that's two 'excitings' in a post Embarrassed
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martle
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« Reply #6 on: 22:58:25, 10-05-2007 »
Quote from: jennyhorn on 22:53:01, 10-05-2007
forgive me-that's two 'excitings' in a post Embarrassed

Forgiven! It's two exciting.  Roll Eyes
Anyway, 'Brief Candles' is what you're thinking of, Jen. An excellent piece, writte for Gilbert's 70th bash, but far better than an 'occasional piece' would usually suggest.
Interested in this idea of compiter-set pieces in Holt's case - care to elaborate?
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jennyhorn
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« Reply #7 on: 23:02:52, 10-05-2007 »
i know that these pieces are written directly onto the computer which in Holt's case most definitely doesn't court the disaster you  might imagine!
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