Non-Planets Holst

[cilgwyn]

The cds you illustrated all contain much wonderful music and are excellent choices in respect of interpretation and performance.

The version of the Choral Fantasia I mentioned is coupled with that beautiful and wonderful work by Gerald Finzi "Dies Natalis" and is another I would recommend with all possible enthusiasm:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Composers-Finzi-Vaughan-Williams/dp/B000005GSD/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1324065278&sr=1-3

Hm! I've bought quite a few things off that seller!

[madaboutmahler]

Thank you for the feedback. The Naxos cd I shall definitely get hold of then. Lloyd Jones' recording of The Planets is excellent, one of my favourites.
Thank you for the other recommendation, Colin. As I also love that Finzi piece, I shall definitely pick up this cd at some point as well.

Thank you again!

[mc ukrneal]

You didn't have it on your list, but this one is fantastic too...
[asin]B000003CSE[/asin]

[madaboutmahler]

You didn't have it on your list, but this one is fantastic too...
[asin]B000003CSE[/asin]

Thank you - the brass band suites are wonderful works so wouldn't mind having this recording in my collection!

[Karl Henning]

What, you don't listen to the woodwinds in the band there? ; )

[madaboutmahler]

What, you don't listen to the woodwinds in the band there? ; )

Silly me! My mind was not working for a few seconds there.... and don't forget the percussion either Karl!

I correct myself:
Thank you - the suites are wonderful works so wouldn't mind having this recording in my collection! 

[Brian]

Coming in June:



A few of these works have appeared on Lyrita, and Chandos/Andrew Davis and Adrian Boult have done the Japanese suite, but definitely a collection-gap-filler. And a pretty cover to boot!

[Philoctetes]

Holst is easily one of my favorite composers:

http://www.youtube.com/v/c_RlvDi6Uxc

[Dundonnell]

Coming in June:



A few of these works have appeared on Lyrita, and Chandos/Andrew Davis and Adrian Boult have done the Japanese suite, but definitely a collection-gap-filler. And a pretty cover to boot!

It will be interesting to hear whether JoAnn Falletta-a conductor I have a lot of time for-makes the Cotswolds Symphony sound more convincing than did Douglas Bostock on the old Classico disc. Apart from the Japanese Suite(1915) these are all early works and cannot be said to be echt-Holst

[Scion7]

Was there anything particularly bad or wrong with the Bostock version of Opus 8?

[Mirror Image]

I've always been fascinated by Holst's work Egdon Heath. Holst considered this work to be one of his best.

[Scion7]

Holst was a composer whose music I hadn't collected outside of "The Planets" - now I've got quite a few of his works and like it - especially after he came out from the Wagner-obsession and found his own sound.

[Dundonnell]

Was there anything particularly bad or wrong with the Bostock version of Opus 8?

No, nothing, apart from the fact that the Munich Symphony Orchestra is not exactly the best German orchestra . I kind of doubt whether anyone can make the Cotswold Symphony sound other than a pretty tame piece.......but I shall be delighted to be proved wrong

[Hattoff]

Although conventional for it's time the Cotswold Symphony does contain first rate melodic material. If it had been written by any of his contemporaries the work would be rated more highly, but most compare it to the Planets and it can't stand up to that.

[Scion7]

If anyone owns a Holst biography that has a decent sized picture of his wife, please scan/post it.  All I can find on the web are two very small photos of her.  Imogen is a different story ...

[cilgwyn]

No, nothing, apart from the fact that the Munich Symphony Orchestra is not exactly the best German orchestra . I kind of doubt whether anyone can make the Cotswold Symphony sound other than a pretty tame piece.......but I shall be delighted to be proved wrong

Off topic,I know;but in their defence,I DO rather like their interpretation of Bax's Sixth. Not perhaps the greatest,but 'different',in a good way & I wish they could have done a bit more (No 1,or,2,say?)!

NB:The more continental (and US!) orchestra's doing British music,the better!

[Leo K.]

This is a sensational, bang up CD. I remember the St. Paul Suite from my junior high school days, and I've been wanting to hear it again for nostalgia's sake. The other works on the disk are new to me too, but radiant and beautiful.

Need to hear more non-planets Holst.

[Mirror Image]

Need to hear more non-planets Holst.

Definitely listen to Egdon Heath at some point. Holst considered this his finest orchestral work.

[Octave]

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, can any GMG Holstians give me an idea of the overall quality of this EMI collection from last summer?  I do remember these recordings of "Psalm 86" and "A Choral Fantasia" being praised in this thread.  I was looking at this as a very nice dose of the man's output; I'm also probably going to check out THE CLOUD MESSENGER on Chandos.

[asin]B007QEHQY6[/asin]



A kind Amazon reviewer also typed out the contents with personnel for each piece, as follows:

CD 1
The Planets - Suite, Op. 32 / H125 48.33
- - - London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Adrian Boult with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
The Perfect Fool, Op. 39 / H150 10.42
Egdon Heath, Op. 47 / H172 (Homage to Hardy) 14.45
- - -London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn

CD 2
A Somerset Rhapsody, Op. 21 No. 2 / H87 9.41
Brook Green Suite, H190 6.25
Bournemouth Sinfonietta / Norman del Mar
A Fugal Concerto, Op. 40 No. 2 / H152 8.33
- - -Jonathan Snowden, flute - David Theodore, oboe
- - -English Chamber Orchestra / Yehudi Menuhin
Beni Mora (Oriental Suite), Op. 29 No. 1 / H114 14.09
- - -BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sir Malcolm Sargent
St. Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 / H118 12.39
- - -Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Malcolm Sargent
Hymns from the Rig Veda - 2nd Group, Op. 26 No. 2 / H98 13.52
- - -London Symphony Chorus, women's voices
Ode to Death, Op. 38 / H144 (Whitman) 11.14
- - -London Symphony Chorus
- - -London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Groves

CD 3
Psalm 86, H117 No. 1 8.00
- - -Ian Partridge, tenor - Ralph Downes, organ
A Choral Fantasia, Op. 51 / H177 17.14
- - -Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano - Ralph Downes, organ
- - -The Purcell Singers
- - -English Chamber Orchestra / Imogen Holst
First Suite in E flat, Op. 28 No. 1 / H105 9.57
Second Suite in F, Op. 28 No. 2 / H106 11.36
Central Band of the Royal Air Force / Imogen Holst
A Moorside Suite, H173 13.55
- - -BMC (Oxford) Band / Imogen Holst
Hammersmith, Op. 52 / H178 13.22
- - -Central Band of the Royal Air Force / Wing Commander J.L. Wallace

CD 4
Hymns from the Rig Veda - 4th Group, Op. 26 No. 4 / H100
III. Hymn to Manas 3.47
The Homecoming, H120 (Hardy) 6.02
- - -Baccholian Singers of London
A Dirge for Two Veterans, H121 (Whitman) 6.15
- - -Baccholian Singers of London
- - -Philip Jones Brass Ensemble / Ian Humphris
Six Choral Folk-Songs (arr.), H136
Six Choruses, Op. 53 / H186 (Medieval Latin, trans. Waddell)
- - -Baccholian Singers of London
- - -English Chamber Orchestra / Ian Humphris
Eight Canons, H187 (Medieval Latin, trans. Waddell)
3. The Fields of Sorrow 1.02
4. David's Lament for Jonathan 1.20
6. Truth of all Truth 3.56
- - -Baccholian Singers of London
Bring us in good ale. Op. 34 No. 4 / H131 (anon) 1.00
- - -The King's Singers
Vedic Hymns - 1st Group, Op. 24 / H90
II. Varuna 3.23
- - -Frederick Harvey, baritone - Gerald Moore, piano
Three Festival Choruses, Op. 36a / H134
II. Turn back O Man (C. Bax) 4.19
- - -Choir of Chichester Cathedral / Richard Seal, organ / John Birch
Lullay my liking. Op. 34 No. 2 / H129 (anon) 3.43
- - -Arranged for boys' voices by Imogen Holst
- - -London Boy Singers / Jonathan Steele
Three Carols / H133
II. Christmas Song: Personent Hodie (Piae Cantiones) 2.40
Bach Choir / Jacques Orchestra / Sir David Willcocks
Hymn: In the bleak mid-winter (English Hymnal, 1906)
(based on poem by Christina Rossetti) 3.57
- - -Rodney Christian Fellowship Festival Choir
- - -Edwin Bates, organ / Rodney Smith Bishton

CD 5
The Hymn of Jesus, Op. 37 / H140
(Apocryphal Acts of St. John, trans. Holst) 22.04
- - -Choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir - London Symphony Chorus
- - -London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Groves
Short Festival Te Deum, H145 4.38
- - -London Symphony Chorus
- - -London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Groves
Choral Symphony, Op. 41 / H155 (Keats) 49.55
- - -Felicity Palmer, soprano - London Philharmonic Choir
- - -London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Adrian Boult

CD 6
The Wandering Scholar, Op. 50 / H176 24.24 Chamber Opera in one act
- - -Louis (a farmer).............................................Michael Rippon, baritone
- - -Alison (his wife..............................................Norma Burrowes, soprano
- - -Father Philippe...........................................- - -Michael Langdon, bass
- - -Pierre (a wandering scholar)....................... Robert Tear, tenor
- - -English Opera Group / English Chamber Orchestra / Steuart Bedford

At the Boar's Head, Op. 42 / H156 51.00 A musical interlude in one act.
- - -Prince Hal............................................... .Philip Langridge, tenor
- - -Falstaff......................................................John Tomlinson, bass
- - -Hostess (Mistress Quickly)..................... ....Elise Ross, soprano
- - -Doll Tearsheet............................................Felicity Palmer, mezzo-soprano
- - -Pistol..........................................................David Wilson-Johnson, baritone
- - -Peto............................................................Peter Hall, tenor
- - -Bardolph.......................... ..........................Richard Suart, baritone
- - -Poins..........................................................Michael George, bass
- - -Men's voices of the Liverpool Philharmonic Choir
- - -Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / David Atherton

[Christo]

I've always been fascinated by Holst's work Egdon Heath. Holst considered this work to be one of his best.

He did. But it isn't. :-)