This Lyrita Holst re-release
is unlikely to sell in huge quantities
because it contains none of Holst’s
‘star music’ but it provides an essential
insight into the development of a genius
too short a time on earth.
The superb sleeve-notes
by Stephen Lloyd get straight to the
point that Holst was a working musician
who composed – just as Elgar was; but
Elgar lived a long life and became a
member of the ‘establishment’ on merit
- despite being a Catholic in England.
Track 1 on this disc
is the Walt Whitman Overture
Op.7 (1899) and this from the same year
as Elgar’s ‘Enigma’. I can hear very
little Holst in the piece, except maybe
a very strong command of brass writing
for a man of only 25 and agree with
Stephen Lloyd that there is a lot of
Wagner and Strauss in this short work
… but there is more. Lloyd’s notes explain
the impact of Whitman’s poetry on British
composers of the time but I find his
attempt to link Whitman with this brief
work unconvincing. Whereas Charles Ives
wrote musical profiles of writers bearing
some resemblance to their flavour, Holst’s
Op.7 is really a standalone piece of
music with nothing Whitmanesque about
it except maybe freedom and youthfulness,
hence the vigour of the piece. However
unless we knew it to be by Holst it
would be an interesting exemplar of
how to use an orchestra by a young man
in 1899 and including a few Borodin,
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov devices.
Tracks 2-5 feature
the Suite de Ballet Op.10 (1899).
This waited until 1904 to be performed.
I wonder if the Valse movement was revised
after Holst heard Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ as
there are some aspects which are very
close in the use of woodwinds. The music
sounds a bit later than the opening
Dance Rustique, unless this is due to
the orchestration being by Gordon Jacob
(1895-1984), an orchestral genius and
some-time pupil of Holst. Track 4, Scène
de Nuit, is still immature but there
are violin lines which, to me, are definitely
akin to later Holst within a generalised
mixture of other influences, mainly
Russian. Bear in mind that Holst was
from a Latvian immigrant family although
firmly English himself, born and bred
in Cheltenham. Whatever, the [7:32]
movement is truly lovely and expertly
crafted. Nicholas Braithwaite and the
LPO give us a real treat. Track 5, Carnival
[5’42"] seems to merge Elgar and
sundry Russians in a demonstration of
a serious musical voice emerging in
his mid-twenties but it takes a lot
of experience to spot the dots to be
joined up. The brass and low register
writing really give it away as proto-Holst.
The Suite in E flat
Op.28 No.1 of 1909 truly demonstrates
the change in Holst once he had directly
absorbed folk melodies with Vaughan
Williams on quite extended visits to
East Anglia. The ‘field days’ mentioned
in biographies and by Stephen Lloyd
in the notes.
Although VW was later
than Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles and
Percy Grainger in setting forth to explore
folk music as it was thought to be dying
out, he used his many contacts to locate
where music still thrived. He was mindful
of Holst’s frail health so concentrated
on Norfolk and the extended Fens rather
than following the others to Lincolnshire.
Bartók and Kodaly had used Edison
machines in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania
and so did Grainger in Lincolnshire
for a while, but listening proved to
be more honest to musical ears than
recording and this made a difference
to accuracy.
Track 6 [Chaconne allegro
molto 4:14] is Holst’s real voice
with glorious authority in his special
way. The way in which the movement opens
would remind anyone of Britten’s Op.34
– he was that far ahead in commanding
the orchestra. Nicholas Braithwaite
is the perfect ‘midwife’ of this startling
stuff even though he is from a different
generation. Braithwaite is the right
man also for the Intermezzo [2:57]
too because the apparently VW-esque
piece is a dazzling display of something
more. This applies as well to the last
part, a March of some speed lasting
only 3:01. Yet here we are at the emergence
of a great composer if one truly listens
to what Holst put into a mere 10 minutes
of music. With so much going on it’s
quite astonishing.
Holst’s strong voice
in the Hampshire Suite Op.28 No.2 (1911)
is very close to VW’s subject matter.
True, there are some smatterings of
Elgar but, I suggest, mostly because
Holst liked a processional format for
some of his most profound music and
VW had seen the value of folk music
for tight organisation. In this way
both composers were able to ditch the
lure of Wagner and write very important
music; just as Bartók and Kodaly
did. The only problem I have with the
‘Hampshire Suite’ on this CD is that
we don’t have Holst’s own orchestration.
That said, Jacob was ever sound of judgement
so just listen and be thankful that
latter-day recomposition
types didn’t spoil this lovely re-issue.
A Moorside Suite
(1928) is mature Holst, and Jacob
used the harmonic subtleties of the
composer’s basic score to explore what
the wind-band versions sometimes conceal.
Nicholas Braithwaite gets every bit
of pacing and the dynamics spot-on.
Lovely. Unfortunately the recording
engineer in the list above set the dynamics
low. To get the very best of this gorgeous
work means upping the volume.
I must say that hearing
this CD over a period on different equipment
changed my view of just how quickly
the composer found his unique voice
and what a brilliant conductor Nicholas
Braithwaite is.
As usual, I advise
a good outboard DAC such as the Beresford
Mk. 2 or 3 if one is to hear every dot
and jot of Lyrita’s fidelity in a display
of how a composer moved from struggle
to find his voice very quickly and imitating
no-one.
This is not a release
for casual listeners but absolutely
essential to those who want to understand
genius in a realistic way. It displays
the evidence of a clear development
on the way to ever-increasing originality
after ‘The Planets’ until an
early death. The influence of Holst,
even from examples on this disc, passed
to his best friend VW and along many
other lines in Britain and abroad. Just
listen hard to a lot of Britten and
the grossly neglected David Bedford
and report back. Also lay siege to Decca
to have Holst’s Wolfe Songs and other
Argo recordings re-released as part
of our heritage - partly paid for by
British taxpayers - no matter what age
you are.
Off the soap box and
back to this release. Quite simply,
buy it. Play it through good equipment
and enjoy the progress of genius from
struggle to mastery. It is played by
the LPO on top form under Nicholas Braithwaite
without any showing off but with a mastery
to match that of the composer.
Stephen Hall
see also review
by Rob Barnett
for
details
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicholas
Braithwaite 
