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A collection of prized Decca recordings of the music of Holst, including a rare – and controversial! – recording by film score supremo Bernard Herrmann, released internationally for the first time on CD. Also included are two orchestral works (The Perfect Fool and Egdon Heath) conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, recorded in 1961 and much praised at his first appearance and its subsequence recurrences on CD. Much of Holst’s life was spent teaching and the St. Paul’s Suite was written for his pupils to play in their school orchestra. The finale – where Holst cleverly counterpoints ‘The Dargason’ with ‘Greensleeves’ is an arrangement of the parallel movement in his Second Suite for military band, composed two years earlier. The legendary recording by Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble of the two Suites, made in 1955, here reappears, and is complemented with another suite for brass band, the Moorside Suite, commissioned by the BBC and the National Brass Band Festival Committee.
Recording producers: Tony D’Amato, Gavin Barratt (The Planets); Ray Minshull (Egdon Heath, The Perfect Fool); Paul Myers (St. Paul’s Suite, Fugal Concerto); James Mallinson (Moorside Suite); Wilma Cozart Fine (Suites Nos. 1 & 2)
Recording engineers: Arthur Lilley (The Planets); Kenneth Wilkinson (The Perfect Fool); Jonathan Stokes (St. Paul’s Suite, Fugal Concerto); Michael Mailes (Moorside Suite); C. Robert Fine (Suites)
Recording locations: Eastman Theater, Rochester, New York, United States, May 1955 (Suites Nos. 1 & 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)
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Mars, The Bringer Of War
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Venus, The Bringer Of Peace
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Mercury, The Winged Messenger
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Saturn, The Bringer Of Old Age
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Uranus, The Magician
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Neptune, The Mystic
Perfect Fool, The - Ballet Music, Op. 39 (H150) - I Introduction - Dance Of Spirits Of Earth
Perfect Fool, The - Ballet Music, Op. 39 (H150) - II Dance Of Spirits Of Water
Perfect Fool, The - Ballet Music, Op. 39 (H150) - III Dande Of Spirits Of Fire
Egdon Heath, Op. 47 (H172)
Moorside Suite, A (H173)
Suite No. 1 In E Flat Major, Op. 28a (H105) - I Chacone
Suite No. 1 In E Flat Major, Op. 28a (H105) - II Intermezzo
Suite No. 1 In E Flat Major, Op. 28a (H105) - III March
Suite No. 2 In F Major, Op. 28b (H106) - I March
Suite No. 2 In F Major, Op. 28b (H106) - II Song Without Words
Suite No. 2 In F Major, Op. 28b (H106) - III Song Of The Blacksmith
Suite No. 2 In F Major, Op. 28b (H106) - IV Fantasia On The Dargason
St. Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) - I Jig: Vivace
St. Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) - II Ostinato: Presto
St. Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) - III Intermezzo: Andante Con Moto
St. Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2 (H118) - IV Finale (The Dargasson): Allegro
Fugal, Concerto, A, Op. 40 No. 2 (H152) - I Moderato
Fugal, Concerto, A, Op. 40 No. 2 (H152) - II Adagio
Fugal, Concerto, A, Op. 40 No. 2 (H152) - III Allegro
“Egdon Heath is a masterpiece of evocation, the counterpart in sound of the sombre scene of Thomas Hardy's tale The Return of the Native … and I cannot imagine a better performance than this one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra”
“Outer portions of The Perfect Fool ballet music have superb sparkle and bite, while the poise of the central "Dance of Spirits of Water" is surely no less memorable.”
(Suites 1 & 2)
“an unqualified success”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Planets, The, Op. 32 (H125) - Mars, The Bringer Of War