Gustav Holst - Winter Idyll; Invocation; The Lure (David Atherton)

Information

Composer: Gustav Holst

1. A Winter Idyll, for orchestra, H. 31
2. Elegy In Memoriam William Morris, for orchestra, Op. 8, H. 47 (from unpublished "The Cotswolds" Symphony)
3. Indra, symphonic poem, Op. 13, H. 66
4. A Song of the Night, for violin & orchestra. Op. 19 No. 1, H. 74
5. Sita, opera, Op. 23, H. 89: Act 3. Interlude
6. Invocation, for cello & orchestra, Op. 19 No. 2, H. 75
7. The Lure, ballet, H. 149
8. The Morning of the Year, choral ballet, Op. 45 No. 2; H. 164

Lorraine McAslan, violin

Alexander Baillie, cello

London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

David Atherton, conductor

Date: 2006

Label: Lyrita

https://www.wyastone.co.uk/holst-orchestral-works.html

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Review

A fascinating assembly of Holstiana. Three of these pieces have already appeared on record before, two of which—the colourful 1921 ballet, The Lure, and Dances from The Morning of the Year (an effective concert suite edited by Imogen Holst and Colin Matthews from Holst's 1926-7 choral ballet)—were available on an earlier Lyrita compilation from 1982, coupled with the ambitious 1904 scena for soprano and orchestra, The Mystic Trumpeter. David Atherton was the admirable conductor on that occasion, with the LSO enthusiastic protagonists and the engineers on top form. Wisely, then, this enterprising label has invited the same conductor (this time with the LPO) to continue the good work, and the result is this notably generous collection of absorbing rarities.

Just one work offers the chance for comparative listening, the haunting Invocation for cello and orchestra from 1911. Imogen Holst has observed that, from a textural point of view, this music presages many features of ''Venus'' from The Planets (indeed, if I'm not mistaken, the cello's opening senza misura passage even quotes a turn of phrase later used in that selfsame movement). Memorably recorded for RCA by Julian Lloyd Webber and Vernon Handley in 1983, this often magical creation is equally well served by these newcomers: perhaps Alexander Baillie is the more hyper-sensitive and tonally beautiful of the two soloists, whereas Handley is a rather more imaginative partner than Atherton. Its companion opus, A Song of the Night for violin and orchestra, was composed in 1905: a less characteristic essay, its central climax glows with romantic fervour, especially in a performance as passionately dedicated as this one.

From 1899 to 1906, Holst worked on his large-scale opera based on Indian mythology, Sita. Colin Matthews has put together this brief orchestral interlude containing music from Act 3: its excitable, very Wagnerian manners are striking, as, for that matter, is Holst's beautifully judged orchestral writing at the hushed conclusion. There's plenty more Wagnerian spectacle in Holst's earliest completed Indian-inspired creation, the 12-minute tone-poem, Indra, from 1903. This colourful, enjoyably rhetorical portrait-in-sound of the god, Indra, and his battle against the drought, again reveals a confident, assertive master of the orchestra, if not without an occasional touch of vulgarity in some of the more over-blown tuttis. The heartfelt, if not especially memorable Elegy in memoriam William Morris in fact comprises the slow movement of Holst's Cotswold Symphony from 1900. To begin with, Holst's processional is momentarily reminiscent of Magnard's glorious Chant funebre, though, as the music progresses, the comparison quickly becomes a cruel one! Finally, there's A Winter Idyll which, although the earliest work on this CD (it dates from 1897, when the composer was still a student at the Royal College of Music), is scored with no little aplomb; certainly, Holst's teacher, Stanford, would have approved of the felicitous transparency and sure design of this, his pupil's very first orchestral work.

In all, a most rewarding survey, handsomely played and engineered, and graced by extensive and knowledgeable booklet-notes from Lewis Foreman.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Apr04/Holst209.htm

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/sept06/Holst_SRCD209_SRCD223.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/holst-9

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lta00209a.php

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lta00209b.php

https://www.allmusic.com/album/holst-a-winter-idyll-elegy-indra-a-song-of-the-night-etc-mw0001395976

https://www.amazon.com/Holst-Winter-Interlude-Invocation-Morning/dp/B000027QVY

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Gustav Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer and teacher. He studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Holst served as musical director at Morley College from 1907 to 1924, and pioneered music education for women at St Paul's Girls' School from 1905 until his death in 1934. He was an important influence on younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst

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David Atherton (born 3 January 1944) is an English conductor. He studied music at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge. In 1967 Atherton founded the London Sinfonietta and, as its Music Director, a position he held until 1973, gave the first performance of many important contemporary works. He was also Resident Conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for twelve years (1968–80), Music Director of the San Diego Symphony (1980–87), Principal Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (1980–83), and Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic (1989–2000).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Atherton

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