Unsung Composers

I'm sure those of you constantly searching for new releases have found this information about Naxos' upcoming Holst record with JoAnn Falletta conducting the Ulster Orchestra. But I'll post it anyway. An interesting release, hopefully this performance of the symphony will be better than the Classico recording with Douglas Bostock wich left me disappointed.

http://www.naxos.com/news/default.asp?op=942&displayMenu=Naxos_News&type=2 (http://www.naxos.com/news/default.asp?op=942&displayMenu=Naxos_News&type=2)


Morten

Very interesting; thanks for that information :)

JoAnn Falletta is a most enterprising and talented conductor and the orchestra should certainly make more of the Cotswolds Symphony than did the Munich Symphony Orchestra on Classico.

Very intriguing is the statement that this disc will include the first uncut recordings of A Winter Idyll and Indra. I have the Lyrita disc which contains both of these, and there is no mention of cuts being made ...

???

Whatever the case, this is an extremely enterprising programme indeed and deserves every success.

;D

Extremely enterprising indeed. I'm actually surprised that Naxos choose to record these works, but it's not the first time that I'm positively surprised by that company.


Morten

I've never come across the rather Stanfordian Winter Idyll (don't know why that should be) and what an attractive piece it sounds, judging by the video of the first run through. As a resident of the Cotswolds, I share Dundonnell's hope that Falletta makes a better fist of the Cotswold Symphony than Bostock. That was disappointingly limp stuff indeed.

Great looking programme. I half suspect that the Cotswolds Symphony is quite hard to do much with, but I'm ready to be surprised. I think the Japanese Suite is really underrated, though not very Japanese. It's interesting how we are getting to discover early Holst at the same time as early Vaughan Williams, especially as this was the time when they presumably most influenced each other

Slightly off-topic, but Holst of course started another symphony at the end of his life, of which the Scherzo has been performed and recorded several times. Does anyone know whether there is much more material in existence, which might lead to an Elgar/Moeran/Mahler-like reconstruction?

Due out in June, apparently:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//8572914.htm (http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//8572914.htm)

Yummy! Can't wait! Be nice to see if the symphony bears up better than in that Classico recording. Great to see the Japanese Suite getting another new recording (after Andrew Davis did it recently): it's a lovely work in my opinion.

As you say, Jim, the Cotswold Symphony didn't come across as a very strong work in Douglas Bostock's Munich performance.

It is an early work of Holst's and Holst didn't regard the work too highly either, except for the slow movement which does have anticipations of the mature composer. So I don't think one should expect too much from this Symphony.

Such a shame, Holst worked on several symphonies and yet essentially produced none: the Cotswolds too early, the Choral is lovely, but choral, and then we have the Scherzo of the symphony he was working on at his death. I always wonder if there is any usable material from the other movements of that work, a la Elgar/Moeran...

Also an early 'Symphony in c minor' apparently, at least acording to Imogen Holst. Don't remember any other details however.

Quote from: Jimfin on Sunday 15 April 2012, 01:16Such a shame, Holst worked on several symphonies and yet essentially produced none: the Cotswolds too early, the Choral is lovely, but choral, and then we have the Scherzo of the symphony he was working on at his death. I always wonder if there is any usable material from the other movements of that work, a la Elgar/Moeran...

There is a  score (complete but only 42 pages long) of the very early Symphony in C minor at the British Library (Add. MS 57865). Begun on 11th January 1892 and finished on 5th February it is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings. The movements are

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Larghetto
3. Largo - Scherzo: Presto
4. Finale: Allegro con brio


Sketches for an intended Second Choral Symphony (1926-31) survive (BL Add. MS 47831 and also in three of the sketchbooks). Setting poems by George Meredith, the rough plan was

1. Hard Weather [first part only]; Tardy Spring [solo]
2. Woodland Peace
3. Spirit of Earth
4. Dirge in woods; Winter Heavens


Fragmentary sketches for the other movements of the unfinished orchestral Symphony (1933-34) also survive (BL Add. MS 47835 and also in two of the sketchbooks). These are very likely to be no more than single-line melodic or harmonic ideas.

:)

Thank you for all that wonderful information. I guess that if the sketches for the late work are fragmentary they should be left alone, especially as we have no other symphonic models to base any attempted completion on from Holst's maturity. I'd rather hear "The Perfect Fool" get a recording (though the broadcast uploaded on this site is as good as a commercial recording)

One I'll definitely add to the collection.
Tom

I would just like to mention that we established a topic (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1929.msg22869.html (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1929.msg22869.html)) for this record back in November 2011. Could the administrators merge it together with the new one maybe?


Morten

AS you can see, I've done just that. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the prompt response Mark!


Morten

Well a preliminary audition suggests that (as expected?) JoAnn Falletta makes a much better case for the Cotswold Symphony than the rather faceless earlier recording, with a more nuanced and fully characterised performance; but having said that, it's still no masterpiece, although the chief problem remains the inexplicably perfunctory first movement - what was Holst thinking? But if one is prepared to think of it as a superior orchestral suite, then it's a thoroughly enjoyable piece of music on its own terms, even if I still don't find the slow movement quite as profound as many commentators tell me it is. Nevertheless, a recording I wasn't at all sure was necessary turns out to be decidedly worth making and having...(A quick listen to another new Naxos recording - Delius' Mass of Life - suggests to me a very valiant effort only handicapped by what sounds like a slightly under-strength choir; under-strength for this piece that is, which really demands a wall of sound at times; but it's early days (evenings) yet, and I need to listen some more...)