Gustav HOLST (1874-1934) on Eloquence
CD 1 [57:02] The Planets, Op. 32 (H125) [57:02] LPO/Bernard Herrmann;
CD 2 [78:46] The Perfect Fool - Ballet Music, Op. 39 (H150) [10:40];
Egdon Heath, Op. 47 (H172) [12:44]; A Moorside Suite (H173)
[14:24]; Suite No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 28a (H105) [9:08]; Suite
No. 2 in F major, Op. 28b (H106) [10:41]; St. Paul’s Suite,
Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) [12:32]; A Fugal Concerto, Op. 40 No. 2 (H152)
[7:23]; rec. 1955-1992. ADD/DDD DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2323 [57:02 + 78:46]
Twelve Songs to words by Humbert Wolfe Op. 48 (H174) [26:11]; Ave
Maria, for unaccompanied female voices in eight parts Op. 9b (H49) [4:21];
Three Welsh Folk Songs arr. unaccompanied chorus (H183) [7:22]; The
Song of the Blacksmith arr. unaccompanied male voices (H136) [1:14]; Two
Part-Songs for unaccompanied female voices [3:53]; Two Carols for
unaccompanied chorus [2:51]; The Hymn of Jesus, Op. 37 (H140) [21:48]
rec. 1962-65. ADD DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2327 [68:14]
Four Songs for Voice and Violin, Op. 35 (H132) [7:25]; This
have I done for my true love for unaccompanied voices, Op. 34 (H128) [5:14];
Jesu, Thou the Virgin-born for unaccompanied voices, Op. 20b (H82)
[3:00]; Two Carols, with oboe and viola (H91) [4:19]; Terzetto
for flute, oboe and viola (H158) [9:52]; Six Canons (H187) [6:25];
The Evening-Watch, Op. 43 No. 1 (H159) [4:16]; Six Choruses,
Op. 53 (H186) [17:18] rec. 1965-66. ADD DECCA ELOQUENCE. 480 2328 [58:26]
Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op. 26 No. 3 (Third Group) (H99) [12:33];
Sāvitri, Op. 25 (H96) [30:38]; Seven Part-Songs,
Op. 44 (H162) [21:05]; The Evening-Watch, Op. 43 (H159) [4:19] rec.
1965. ADD DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2329 [69:04]
Rather than harbouring a phobia against late analogue era recordings Australian
Eloquence have made them a speciality. In this they have been followed by
Newton and a few others. Come on in; there’s nothing to be frightened
of unless you really cannot bear that even and usually discreet level of background
hiss. If you can live with this slight shadow then there are musical rewards
to be harvested. And so it proves with these five CDs. The first - a 2CD set
- mixes 1950s mono (Fennell) with 1970s Phase Four stereo and early 1990s
digital. The remainder comprise ripe 1960s vintage Argo ZRG originals. One
keeps hoping that Eloquence will be given the entrée to other catalogues
including EMI for its late rarities such as the Abravanel Roy Harris Fourth
Symphony and CBS-Sony’s complete Ruggles orchestral works from Michael
Tilson Thomas but I suspect it’s not going to happen.
The centre-piece of this clutch of Holst discs is Herrmann’s Planets.
It’s an eccentric version, it has to be said. It’s the slowest
I have encountered but has its fascinations and rewards. And they are considerable.
Herrmann adds more than a minute to the modern mean timing for each planet.
He takes 57:02 against Holst (Naxos)
42:35, 1940s Boult (Beulah)
47:12, Boult 1979 (EMI
EMI),
Handley (Regis)
49:15, David Lloyd Jones (Naxos)
50:00, Previn (EMI)
50:15, Elder (Hyperion),
Owain Arwel Hughes (Warner)
50:57, Rattle 51:12 (EMI)
and Svetlanov (Brilliant)
[54:12].
Herrmann’s Planets starts well - very well. I cannot recall another
Mars sounding as baleful. One gains the sense that some horror is wound
up to pounce. The spectacular brass growl with gnarled abrasion. The wild-eyed
horns at 1:28 howl like wolves - never heard that effect before. The tattoo
at 5:24 is shod with cruel iron. Venus is flecked with Hollywood star-dust
and its mood is wondrously maintained. Mercury here is rather viscous
and ‘ploddy’. It’s as if the young god had overindulged
at dinner but it does deliver a fresh perspective. Jupiter sports resinous
wind and a slow motion clarinet - like peeling obstinate cellotape off a piece
of cardboard. It’s all pretty vehement. The great melody is really trolled
out and emerges with stoic grandeur. This darkly-intoned Saturn frequently
brings to mind Sibelius 4 and Tapiola. However what should be the terror-stricken
outburst at 5:20 is so ponderous it doesn’t really work. Neptune
has some uncannily steely harp glimmerings and other arcanely whispered sounds
at 0:48. It’s a strangely beautiful world that both grumbles and gleams
in a way that recalls Bax’s Second Symphony. The final fade-out of the
choir seems electronically contrived rather than naturally sung. So this is
an enigmatic and very different Planets. I liked it and if you feel
jaded with ‘the middle way’ as represented by the great and the
good do get this. You will not be bored.
You might like to read David Trippett’s online biography
of Holst and Dr Len Mullenger’s article
on The Planets elsewhere on this site.
The second disc in Volume 1 is packed to almost overflowing with miscellaneously-sourced
Holst. Holst, himself a trombonist and here abetted by Boult, unleashes the
instrument in the Dance Of The Spirits Of Earth - the first episode
of the ballet music from the still-unrecorded yet highly entertaining opera
The Perfect Fool. This particular recording was always one of the spectaculars
of the LP catalogue. It still sounds handsome and grippingly upfront. We need
a recording of the complete opera please. I could never understand why The
Perfect Fool with its fairy-tale charms and wit and Rimskian brilliance
languished while session-time preference was given to the much lower key At
the Boar’s Head.
The Hardy-inspired Egdon Heath has no surface glamour. The tonality
is mistily ambiguous. There’s even a touch of Schoenberg there. The
Black Dyke/Elgar Howarth Moorside Suite is excellent - magnificent
recording and snortingly vibrant performance. Shame that all the movements
are channelled down to a single track.
The excellence of that Moorside recording does few favours to the venerable
Eastman/Fennell recordings of the two windband suites. Cracking playing but
that final March of Suite No. 1 is, I now find, just too fast as is the Dargason
finale of Suite 2. It’s as if Fennell is saying to you - I can play
it this fast and I’ll show you how! Stirs the blood, right enough, but
Holst comes only a close second. By contrast The Song of the Blacksmith
movement is just irresistibly punchy. Grainger has a similar facility with
emphatic vehemence.
Hogwood is flattered by a really modern recording - well 1990s, anyway. His
St Paul’s yields rewards in depth and breadth of sound. The neo-classical
Fugal Concerto has reserves aplenty of sheer oomph and virile élan.
Britten’s admiration for Holst is attested to by his commitment to Holst’s
major song-cycle and by his undeniably imaginative way in accompanying Pears
in the Twelve Humbert Wolfe Songs. Wolfe’s poetry can be treacly
sentimental but more often encompasses elusive worlds and visions. Pears’
precious yet assertive way with the words shows commitment and delivers a
fine interpretative standard. Britten is superbly imaginative. These songs
share something with Fauré and Boughton - the latter in his most symbolist
Celtic moments. Betelgeuse has distance and inhumanity - a strange
and brave song with which to end. Holst’s uncompromising integrity stares
out unblinkingly into a remote infinity. It delivers an applause-defying ending
to the cycle.
The nine choral items launch with a delicate Ave Maria. Things find
their feet with Three Welsh Folksongs. The prize of the three is the
slow-stepping My Sweetheart’s Like Venus. The Song Of The
Blacksmith will be well known from the counterpart movement of the Suite
No. 2. It is also a swinging masculine partner to Dyson’s The
Blacksmiths.. The female voice Partsongs H92 and H119 are suitably
gentle while the Two Carols for mixed voices are more extrovert and
touch on the Moeran-Warlock toping song territory.
In the same realm as Betelgeuse is The Hymn of Jesus - exotic
and elusive. It is dedicated to RVW and is Holst’s mystical response
to WW1 as was RVW’s
Pastoral
Symphony, Delius’s
Requiem
and Foulds’ strangely conventional and less successful World
Requiem. The Holst is a mysterious yet triumphant hybrid of Middle
Eastern mood and Greek Orthodox church censers. There are also parallels to
be drawn with Szymanowski though the Holst is never as lush as the Song
of the Nightor Krol
Roger. This is a classic recording which has not been excelled. A
delicate hushing analogue background is a presence you have to accept. The
spoken incantatory choir, the rising female waves of praise and grand orchestral
rhetoric all register affirmatively. Divine grace is dancing sounds
very much like Constant Lambert (10:00). Finzi might also have imbibed the
influence in the dancing episodes in Intimations
of Immortality. The more chaste moments recall in beauty Holst’s
own wonderful Whitman setting of Dirge For Two Veterans paralleled
by RVW’s in Dona Nobis Pacem. This 1960s Hymn of Jesus
- a valiantly unfashionable Decca endeavour at the time - is one of Boult’s
classic recordings. It is amongst the best things he ever did alongside the
Holst
Choral
Symphony, Bax’s
Northern
Ballad No. 1, Moeran’s
Symphony and RVW’s
Dona
Nobis Pacem. The Holst work surely inhabits the realms of the celestial
spheres and of the angels. It fades into an ineffable Neptune-like
silence having wrought a potent spell.
If I prefer Felicity Palmer in a 1972 radio broadcast of the Four Medieval
Songs this does not deafen me to the spare passions and careful weighed
balances of the version by Peter Pears and Norbert Brainin. This I have
done has the pristine exhalation of a winter morning’s sunshine-dappled
carol. The Two Carols with oboe and viola have a suitably antiquarian
accent with nice interplay between voices and viola and oboe and some delightful
dancing figuration in Terly Terlow. Those two instruments are joined
by the flute for the Terzetto in a work woven through and through with
Warlockian regret. The Curlew is not far away in the first of the two
movements. In the second Holst’s cooler neo-classical manner emerges
as in the Fugal Concerto and Fugal Overture. The Six Canons
are beautifully complex and much interwoven with grace and joy. They sometimes
indulge in a nicely varied and angularly piquant jollity. Notice the analogue
hush. Viola Tunnard’s perfectly judged piano pulse in Evening On
The Moselle is memorable. Good to see her name again and be reminded of
her manifest artistic virtues. In The Evening Watch is that Ian Partridge
as the solo voice. The same piece is repeated across two of the discs. The
Six Choruses H186 with the ECO mix of sacred and profane jolly and
touch of Moeran’s drinking songs but it not all carousing witness the
serenading a love song. Trudging stoical strings of Intercession. Piercing
Herrmann-like stab of Good Friday - the pierced side of Christ recalled.
March is perhaps a shade too quick. The walking holidays of Holst and
RVW pervade the rhythmic voices in Good Friday. Before Sleep
is calming and haunts the drowsy and wakeful realms. The subtle harmonic gouache
of The Evening Watch is repeated in Before Sleep.
The final disc touches on Holst’s passion for things oriental. Thus
we have the delectably rippling Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op.
26 No. 3 (Third Group) (H99). As Sheherazade outwitted the calif at some cost
to her storytelling resources so Savitri yet more craftily trounces
Death (strange how he sticks to the bargain) in the 30 minute opera that bears
her name. There’s a fine singing from the three solo voices. Savitri
and her lover Satyavan sound suitably passionate but ever so cut-crystal English.
Baker is velvety of tone and yet she can sing with an approach towards girlish
naivety as in the final scene. The whole conception instrumental, choral and
solo is nicely judged and the ecstatic mingling of the choir and Baker’s
voice at 1:10 in Loneliness and pain are ended is a treasure. This
work functions as an extended scena or perfectly balanced miniature opera.
Holst here polishes a rare mood and exotic atmosphere although the singing
in this version reeks of the English choral tradition. The Seven Partsongs
are delicate and ascetically eloquent. These graceful and light-palated delights
are enhanced by minimal instrumental grace interjections. The soloist is Susan
Longfield and she proves something of a star. She could easily have been another
Felicity Palmer had she had her chance with the Four Medieval Songs
or indeed in Holst’s luxuriant Keats-based Choral Symphony (review).
The austere lissom hum of The Evening Watch exercises a powerful spell.
It too is from the mid-1920s and now sounds quite modern. The words for all
the pieces are printed in full in the booklet.
Those Rig Veda songs are captivating. If you would like to explore
further then you might like to be reminded that in December 1984 Osian Ellis
(also the harpist on this disc), the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir,
the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra all conducted by Sir David Willcocks recorded
the four sets of Hymns. They were issued complete on Unicorn-Kanchana DKP(CD)9046.
That CD was filled out with the Hymn to Dionysus and The Two Eastern
Pictures. It won’t be easy to track down. Quite apart from the Hymns
we also have The Cloud Messenger on Chandos (review)
and, remaining to be recorded, the grand opera Sita of which we have
heard only the Act III interlude on Lyrita SRCD209 (review).
The same Lyrita also presents the tone poem Indra.
I should add that two of the five discs have been issued previously as part
of the Holst volume of the Decca British Music Collection (review).
There we have it. A great deal of largely unfamiliar Holst at bargain price.
We also have a revival of his most performed orchestral piece in a pleasingly
disorientating and controversial reading that ranks with ultima thule
readings of Bernstein’s
BBCSO Enigmaand
Golovanov’s
Mendelssohn Scherzo. The 1960s Argo originals carry the standard high
and complement Lyrita’s Holst discs on SRCD222
(Adrian Boult) and SRCD223
(Imogen Holst).
Rob Barnett
Fine 1960s vintage Holst recordings restoring at bargain price many works
still rarely encountered. The Herrmann Planets is controversial but never
dull.
Detailed contents list
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
CD 1 [57:02]
The Planets, Op. 32 (H125) [57:02]
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bernard Herrmann
CD 2 [78:46]
The Perfect Fool - Ballet Music, Op. 39 (H150) [10:40]
Egdon Heath, Op. 47 (H172) [12:44]
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Adrian Boult
A Moorside Suite (H173) [14:24]
Grimethorpe Colliery Band/Elgar Howarth
Suite No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 28a (H105) [9:08]
Suite No. 2 in F major, Op. 28b (H106) [10:41]
Eastman Wind Ensemble/Frederick Fennell
St. Paul’s Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) [12:32]
A Fugal Concerto, Op. 40 No. 2 (H152) [7:23]
Julia Bogorad (flute); Kathryn Greenbank (oboe); Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra/Christopher
Hogwood
rec. Eastman Theater, Rochester, New York, United States, May 1955 (Suites
Nos. 1 and 2); Kingsway Hall, London, UK, March 1961 (Egdon Heath, The Perfect
Fool), February 1970 (The Planets); Town Hall, Huddersfield, United Kingdom,
June 1976
(Moorside Suite); Ordway Music Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, May 1992
(St. Paul’s Suite, Fugal Concerto). ADD
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2323 [57:02 + 78:46]
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
Twelve Songs to words by Humbert Wolfe Op. 48 (H174) [26:11]
Sir Peter Pears, tenor Benjamin Britten (piano);
Ave Maria, for unaccompanied female voices in eight parts Op. 9b (H49)
[4:21]
Three Welsh Folk Songs arr. unaccompanied chorus (H183) [7:22]
The Song of the Blacksmith arr. unaccompanied male voices (H136) [1:14]
Two Part-Songs for unaccompanied female voices [3:53]]
Two Carols for unaccompanied chorus [2:51]
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
The Hymn of Jesus, Op. 37 (H140) [21:48]
BBC Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Adrian Boult
rec. Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom, March 1962 (The Hymn of Jesus),
December 1965 (Humbert Wolfe Songs, Ave Maria, Three Welsh Folk Songs, The
Song of the Blacksmith, Two Part-Songs, Two Carols). ADD
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2327 [68:14]
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
Four Songs for Voice and Violin, Op. 35 (H132) [7:25]
Sir Peter Pears (tenor) Norbert Brainin (violin)
This have I done for my true love for unaccompanied voices, Op. 34
(H128) [5:14]
Jesu, Thou the Virgin-born for unaccompanied voices, Op. 20b (H82)
[3:00]
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
Two Carols, with oboe and viola (H91) [4:19]]
Edward Selwyn (oboe); Cecil Aronowitz (viola)
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola (H158) [9:52]
Richard Adeney (flute); Peter Graeme (oboe); Cecil Aronowitz (viola);
Six Canons (H187) [6:25]
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
Viola Tunnard (piano);
The Evening-Watch, Op. 43 No. 1 (H159) [4:16]
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
Six Choruses, Op. 53 (H186) [17:18]
The Purcell Singers; English Chamber Orchestra/Imogen Holst
Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Norbert Brainin (violin), Peter Pears (tenor), Edward
Selwyn (oboe); Viola Tunnard (piano), The Purcell Singers.
English Chamber Orchestra/Imogen Holst
rec. Kingsway Hall, London, UK, December 1965 (This have I done for my true
love, Jesu, Thou the Virgin-born, Four Songs for Voice and Violin, Two Carols,
Six Canons, Six Medieval Lyrics, The Evening-Watch), January 1966 (Terzetto).
ADD
DECCA ELOQUENCE. 480 2328 [58:26]
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op. 26 No. 3 (Third Group) (H99) [12:33]
Osian Ellis (harp)
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
Sāvitri, Op. 25 (H96) [30:38]
Janet Baker (mezzo) - Sāvitri; Robert Tear (tenor) - Satyavan; Thomas
Hemsley (bass) - Death; The Purcell Singers; English Chamber Orchestra/Imogen
Holst
Seven Part-Songs, Op. 44 (H162) [21:05]
Susan Longfield (solo); The Purcell Singers; English Chamber Orchestra/Imogen
Holst
The Evening-Watch, Op. 43 (H159) [4:19]
The Purcell Singers/Imogen Holst
rec. Kingsway Hall, London, UK, October 1965 (Sāvitri), November
1965 (Rig Veda). ADD
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 2329 [69:04]