Ralph Holmes

Holmes made his American début with Sir John Barbirolli and the Houston Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1966;^[4] he played Ravel's Tzigane and Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending.^[5]

Although Holmes became an experienced and skilled concerto soloist – he gave several hundred performances of the Beethoven Violin Concerto^[6] – as The Times put it, "he lacked the forcefulnes of temperament to make a dominating impression in a world not short of major violin virtuosi".^[2] He diversified his musical activities and performed as soloist-conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and the London Mozart Players and formed the Holmes Trio in 1972 with Anthony Goldstone (piano) and Moray Welsh (cello). According to Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, his performances with these players "were acclaimed for their technical mastery, warmth of tone and complete stylistic conviction".^[1]

The Times called Holmes "a notable champion of the lesser known areas of the 20th century repertory".^[2] He played concertos by Barber, Bennett, Brian, Britten, Delius and Schoenberg as well as more familiar twentieth-century concertos by composers such as Bartók, Berg, Elgar, Shostakovich and Walton.^[1][2][7]

He made fewer commercial recordings than many of his compeers, but in the studio he set down the Delius sonatas with Eric Fenby; solo sonatas by Bartók and Prokofiev; Beethoven and Hummel sonatas with Richard Burnett; and the Delius Violin Concerto with the RPO under Vernon Handley.^[1]

From 1964 until his death, Holmes was professor of violin at the RAM.^[4] He died in Beckenham in South London on 4 September 1984 at the age of 47.^[1]