JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897): Symphony in F Minor, Op. 34 (after the Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 34a. Orchestrated Robin Holloway [b.1943]), Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 23 (orch. Holloway), ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): 6 Canonic Studies, Op. 56 (arr. for 2 pianos Claude Debussy [1862-1918], orch. Holloway). 

Description: Composers who orchestrate the music of earlier colleagues often serve them best when they add something of themselves to the work in hand. These three orchestrations by the English composer Robin Holloway demonstrate his profound understanding of and affection for two of the most important Romantic composers – and his re-imagining of Brahms’ Sonata for Two Pianos (which Brahms himself recast as his Piano Quintet) as a symphony gives one of the greatest of all compositions a wild and thrilling energy, making it also a masterpiece of our own age. BBC Symphony Orchestra; Paul Mann.