Non-Planets Holst

[Albion]

Another great video this time on Holst, including priceless interviews and footage of his daughter Imogen and Edmund Rubbra...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsXDC5DfTTA

 

[Christo]

Particular highlights from my recent listening (see above) have been

Japanese Suite
Beni Mora
Fugal Overture
Egdon Heath
Hammersmith
Choral Fantasia
The Lure
Choral Symphony
Fugal Concerto
Double Concerto
Lyric movement
Capriccio
The Cloud Messenger
The Hymn of Jesus
Suite de Ballet

It's been really wonderful revisiting this repertoire after such a long time...

 

Agree with all of them; so far for non-Planets Holst: in reality there's plenty of it.

[Albion]

The operas are problematic in the sense that they will never probably be staged today and so we rely on recordings. I'd love Sita to be recorded complete (an excerpt is in a previous post), but we have all of the others and a right mixed bag they are: Savitri is proto-minimalist and essentially static but has had good recordings on Decca and Hyperion, The Perfect Fool is wonderfully extravagant and makes little sense but there are two recordings (cut on Lyrita and uncut on the 1995 BBC broadcast), At the Boar's Head is an unsatisfactory exercise of Holst trying to wed folk melodies to Shakespeare's words verbatim - it just results in a jumble where you can't appreciate either the music or the text, but The Tale of the Wandering Scholar is a delight from start to finish. Both of the last have been well recorded by EMI. So although Holst wasn't really noted as an opera composer he's been pretty well served...

 

[kyjo]

What impresses me most, amongst many things, about Holst is that every one of his works sounds pretty much unlike any of his others - he was never content to sit on one style from one score to the next. For example, you would expect the Fugal Overture and the Fugal Concerto to sit side by side but they don't really. Likewise, the two late works Egdon Heath and Hammersmith inhabit completely different worlds in terms of aural conception. You could programme any one of The Planets separately as a stand-alone work such is the diversity within the suite. The Cloud Messenger sounds nothing like The Hymn of Jesus which sounds worlds away from Ode to Death which sounds highly distinct from the Choral Symphony which in turn is highly distinct from the Choral Fantasia. Also, with the operas, each one is a true individual from Sita through to The Wandering Scholar. This is not to say that there aren't certain harmonic and orchestral "trademarks" but he was constantly reinventing, certainly to a greater extent than Vaughan Williams and Bax. Cyril Scott's idiom definitely evolved, but once it reached maturity with its vertical harmony, rhythmic fluidity and orchestral glitter it was pretty much fixed for the remainder of his career. Similarly with Bantock, Brian and Holbrooke. You could play half a dozen major Holst scores to the unwary listener and easily convince them that they were by completely different composers. Sheer bloody genius and a questing spirit...

 

What an illuminating post! I totally agree - it's the sign of a truly great composer when they rarely repeat themselves. Holst could write in so many different styles with equal success, and for that he deserves much more credit!

[Carshot]

Has anyone bought the "newly remastered" Boult conducts Holst etc? Opinions? It's a bit pricy to buy blind but the music choices are great (love the lesser known Fugal Overture)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CCW1CBB4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_28?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

[Roasted Swan]

Has anyone bought the "newly remastered" Boult conducts Holst etc? Opinions? It's a bit pricy to buy blind but the music choices are great (love the lesser known Fugal Overture)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CCW1CBB4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_28?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

These are LIVE performances and not one of Boult's various studio versions.  A 1973 'live' Planets from the Proms appeared on a BBC Music Magazine disc here;



perhaps they have "remastered" that recording for this set....?

[Carshot]

I found one (enthusiastic) review, and on Roasted Swan's advice that they are previously unreleased (I don't have the CD referenced) I will take the plunge.

https://robccowan.com/2023/08/14/tchaikovskys-fifth-and-the-critics-lot/
   

[Roasted Swan]

I found one (enthusiastic) review, and on Roasted Swan's advice that they are previously unreleased (I don't have the CD referenced) I will take the plunge.

https://robccowan.com/2023/08/14/tchaikovskys-fifth-and-the-critics-lot/
   

Enjoy!  Make sure to post your thoughts/impressions once you've heard the set.

[relm1]

These are LIVE performances and not one of Boult's various studio versions.  A 1973 'live' Planets from the Proms appeared on a BBC Music Magazine disc here;



perhaps they have "remastered" that recording for this set....?

I don't think it's the same.  The remaster says it's a 1977 concert and the BBC Proms one is from 1973, no?

[Roasted Swan]

I don't think it's the same.  The remaster says it's a 1977 concert and the BBC Proms one is from 1973, no?

A MWI review today

https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/10/sir-adrian-boult-conductor-holst-vaughan-williams-ica-classics/

says it is the 1973 performance.  It also mentions that this same performance appeared on the BBC Music Magazine disc.  So I reckon it is the same (not that I know for sure - just taking 2nd hand information.....!)

[relm1]

A MWI review today

https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/10/sir-adrian-boult-conductor-holst-vaughan-williams-ica-classics/

says it is the 1973 performance.  It also mentions that this same performance appeared on the BBC Music Magazine disc.  So I reckon it is the same (not that I know for sure - just taking 2nd hand information.....!)

After reading that review, I think you're right.  It sounds like the same performance.  The 1977 is for the Walton and RVW on the same release.

[Carshot]

CD's received 10 minutes ago. I attach a photograph of the back page of the booklet confirming recording dates and locations. Might be a day or three until I listed to it as my ears are obsessed with a new recording of Offenbach's La Princesse De Trebizonde as I write...

[vandermolen]

Has anyone bought the "newly remastered" Boult conducts Holst etc? Opinions? It's a bit pricy to buy blind but the music choices are great (love the lesser known Fugal Overture)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CCW1CBB4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_28?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

Yes, I have 
I enjoyed all of the programme, especially Boult's live 'Sinfonia Antartica' - his last concert appearance. He rarely conducted this work but I found his performance to be gripping and engaging with a spectacular organ entry. The Walton symphony has a very fast slow movement which struck me as unidiomatic. I enjoyed 'The Planets'.

[relm1]

Another great video this time on Holst, including priceless interviews and footage of his daughter Imogen and Edmund Rubbra...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsXDC5DfTTA

 

Wonderful documentary!  I loved it.  I never heard Rubbra speak before and discovered that Imogen Holst was quite an accomplished composer herself.  I confess never having heard any of her music which I'm now curious about.  I loved hearing from his St. Paul's students and Michael Tippet too.  Anyone who loves British music should see this film so you might want to post it in the British Composers thread too.  My only complaint is it doesn't list the works heard, many of which I'm curious about but don't know what they are. 

Watching this documentary makes me want to relisten and revisit my own experience with Holst when performing Planets.  It was a very thrilling experience and so much fun!  Here is a brief excerpt of our rehearsal of Mars.

Holst, Planets Mars
https://clyp.it/m5l0t4wq

Some memories from that experience, I played as loud as I ever had before at the end of the Mars and the conductor looked at us and said, "Trombones, I need that louder".  We NEVER hear that request!!  I felt like my lips were going to fall off.  Luckily, we are tacet in the next movement.  I vividly remember apologizing to the poor contrabassoonist directly in front of my bell and she responded "No worries, I'm used to that." Jupiter was harder than I expected and I had a quasi-solo near the end!  It's tricky because you go in and out of valve triggers so it's a bit of a tongue twister.  Also, very memorable is how those big Saturn chords vibrated my body.  It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced this but the loud chords penetrate your body.  Neptune was every bit as intoxicating as I imagined though I only played a few notes.  The experience was thrilling and very, very satisfying!  I could imagine how jarring this must have sounded for those who played at the premiere as described in the video.

[Luke]

A small selection of the 'Holst' photos that will be included in my book (should be out next summer...)

#1 is the lost corner of a field where much of The Planets was written
#2 is in Thaxted Church, a place of enormous significance in Holst's life and music, and, for my book's  purposes, the place where the Four Songs for Voice and Violin was inspired
#3 is the view of the Thames below William Morris's Kelmscott House, where Holst used to attend socialist meetings. This is the river as he depicts it in Hammersmith
#4 is Egdon Heath (I have better photos from this day, but this is the most accurate, if such a thing can be said of a semi-non-existent place

[Carshot]

"for my book's  purposes"

Luke, thanks for these photographs. Can you tell us a bit more about your book please? (and notify here when available). Thanks

[Roasted Swan]

A small selection of the 'Holst' photos that will be included in my book (should be out next summer...)

#1 is the lost corner of a field where much of The Planets was written
#2 is in Thaxted Church, a place of enormous significance in Holst's life and music, and, for my book's  purposes, the place where the Four Songs for Voice and Violin was inspired
#3 is the view of the Thames below William Morris's Kelmscott House, where Holst used to attend socialist meetings. This is the river as he depicts it in Hammersmith
#4 is Egdon Heath (I have better photos from this day, but this is the most accurate, if such a thing can be said of a semi-non-existent place

Great pictures!  The 4 Songs are one of the great Holst works I think - the ultimate distallation of his austere style.  I played this in Chichester Cathedral (where his ashes are) as part of a service to mark the 50th anniversary of his death back in 1984.

[Roasted Swan]

Wonderful documentary!  I loved it.  I never heard Rubbra speak before and discovered that Imogen Holst was quite an accomplished composer herself.  I confess never having heard any of her music which I'm now curious about.  I loved hearing from his St. Paul's students and Michael Tippet too.  Anyone who loves British music should see this film so you might want to post it in the British Composers thread too.  My only complaint is it doesn't list the works heard, many of which I'm curious about but don't know what they are. 

Watching this documentary makes me want to relisten and revisit my own experience with Holst when performing Planets.  It was a very thrilling experience and so much fun!  Here is a brief excerpt of our rehearsal of Mars.

Holst, Planets Mars
https://clyp.it/m5l0t4wq

Some memories from that experience, I played as loud as I ever had before at the end of the Mars and the conductor looked at us and said, "Trombones, I need that louder".  We NEVER hear that request!!  I felt like my lips were going to fall off.  Luckily, we are tacet in the next movement.  I vividly remember apologizing to the poor contrabassoonist directly in front of my bell and she responded "No worries, I'm used to that." Jupiter was harder than I expected and I had a quasi-solo near the end!  It's tricky because you go in and out of valve triggers so it's a bit of a tongue twister.  Also, very memorable is how those big Saturn chords vibrated my body.  It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced this but the loud chords penetrate your body.  Neptune was every bit as intoxicating as I imagined though I only played a few notes.  The experience was thrilling and very, very satisfying!  I could imagine how jarring this must have sounded for those who played at the premiere as described in the video.

Wasn't it Strauss who advised conductors never to look at the trombones because it just encouraged them!? 

[Luke]

Great pictures!  The 4 Songs are one of the great Holst works I think - the ultimate distallation of his austere style.  I played this in Chichester Cathedral (where his ashes are) as part of a service to mark the 50th anniversary of his death back in 1984.

Agree 100% - I love these pieces, the absolute antithesis of the mega-blockbuster Holst of The Planets, so stripped down and ultra-focussed. I think they are right at the heart of his work. They were inspired at the first of his Whitsun Festivals in 1916, when, during a rainy break in proceedings, Holst went back into the temporarily empty church (or so he thought) and overheard a woman wanderings the aisles, improvising on her violin and singing to herself. So I did a little tracing of that story, and wandered the aisles myself. It was actually the first trip I went on for my book, as one of the closest to home.

[Luke]

Luke, thanks for these photographs. Can you tell us a bit more about your book please? (and notify here when available). Thanks

This is the publisher's bumpf that he's just taken off to a book fair in Frankfurt. It more or less explains what the book is about, but ideally the emphasis is even more on the idea of Inspiration: I wanted to go to the places where ideas/feelings/formative experiences/etc had struck the musicians in question, be they the flanks of Helvellyn or a back-bedroom on a terraced street in Northampton. Although I made the definition of this even looser than that, as it turned out. All based on the conceit that, if I went to these places, I might cure myself of my own compositional blockage.

Musicians have always been inspired by the places in which they live. Benjamin Britten will always be identified with the Suffolk coastland; Edward Elgar with the rolling hills of Worcestershire. When composer Luke Ottevanger found that his ability to write music had deserted him, he sent himself on a series of therapeutic musical journeys, to explore how the landscapes of Britain had liberated musicians in the past.

In this thoughtful account of his self-imposed quest, he investigates the myths and legends lying behind the music of nearly thirty composers, and weaves together descriptions of the genesis and history of almost seventy musical pieces with his own accounts of the places he discovered on his travels—and truths about himself.