Release Date: 09 January 2003
Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313211722
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: HOLST
Description
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)Four songs for voice and violin Six Songs Vedic Hymns Twelve Humbert Wolfe SongsThe English composer Gustav Holst was the son of a musicianand descended from a family of mixed Scandinavian, German and Russian originthat had settled in England in the early nineteenth century. His childhood wasspent in Cheltenham, where his father supervised his study of the piano. Alater period at the Royal College of Music in London brought a lastingfriendship with Ralph Vaughan Williams, an association that was to theadvantage of both in their free criticism and discussion of one another's compositions.It was in part a weakness in health, as well as financialnecessity, that prompted Holst for a time to earn his living as a trombonist,touring with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and playing with the ScottishOrchestra. Eventually he decided to devote himself, as far as possible, tocomposition. Teaching positions, and particularly his long association with StPaul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, and his work as director of music for theenthusiastic amateurs at Morley College, allowed him some time, at least in thesummer holidays, but the relatively even tenor of his life, which suited hisdiffident character, was considerably disturbed by the great popular success ofThe Planets, which had its first complete public performance in 1920. His latermusic never achieved such a lasting triumph with the public, although hisShakespearian opera At the Boar's Head aroused respectful interest at the time,while other works generally had a mixed critical reception, including his 1927Egdon Heath, published as a tribute to Thomas Hardy. His St Paul's Suite,written for the school in Hammersmith, retains a firm place in string orchestrarepertoire, as does the later Brook Green Suite, and the 1917 Hymn of Jesus forchoruses and orchestra has an honourable position in English choral music.Holst's later years brought engagements that overtaxed hisstrength, not least a stimulating and busy period in the United States, wherehis music was welcomed and where he conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra ina series of three concerts of his own works and taught and composed during ashort period at Harvard, lecturing on Haydn at the Library of Congress inWashington. He also took the opportunity to visit his younger brother Emil,established in America as an actor under the name of Ernest Cossart. By Junethe following year, 1932, he was in England again, able to entertain hisbrother, with whom he visited scenes from their childhood. His time in Americahad brought a temporary break in hospital, and when he returned to England hishealth was uncertain, leading to periods in hospital. He succeeded, however, incompleting the Brook Green Suite and the Lyric Movement for viola andorchestra, written for Lionel Tertis. He died on 25th May 1934, after a majoroperation, and is buried in Chichester Cathedral, where his music had oftenbeen heard, near the grave of his favourite Tudor compose
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
