BaL 11.01.25 - Holst: The Planets

[mikealdren]

Going back to Stokowski and The Planets ... He featured a great deal of 20th Century music when he was conductor of the NBC Symphony for three years during the war, Toscanini having declined to sign a new contract for the 1941-42 season. However, he changed his mind when Stokowski started getting excellent reviews for his concerts and returned the following year as his co-conductor. Toscanini's critics often dismiss him as a "speed merchant" and Glenn Gould once referred to each new Toscanini recording as "one metronomic steeplechase after another." One wonders if Toscanini's tempos had an effect on Stokowski at the time because in "Jupiter" he whips through it at 100 miles an hour in some places so as to make one suspect that they did! ... This comes from a complete broadcast of the work on 14 February 1943 ..

They did indeed but, as speeds have increased over the years, his tempi so often feel appropriate nowadays.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My first recording of the work was Dutiot’s, and it is very fine, just as others have said. However, my favourites now are the VPO/ Karajan and the 1966 Boult. I had the 1978 Boult too, but it’s quite sluggish in Mars.

[richardfinegold]

My first recording of the work was Dutiot’s, and it is very fine, just as others have said. However, my favourites now are the VPO/ Karajan and the 1966 Boult. I had the 1978 Boult too, but it’s quite sluggish in Mars.

Hello, Alpie, and Seasons Greetings. I have both of your two favorites and Solti/LPO which I believe are the only ones on the shelf

[Ian Thumwood]

1. I think many people are unaware that Holst was English. I believe his grandfather was Russian.

2. I was unaware that Bax and Holst were friends. I had always assumed Bax to have been an awkward character.


3. My piano teacher met Bax but he shared digs with Sir Colin Davis when he was at the Guildhall school. Incidentally he took lessons with a teacher called Sumner who lived in Southampton and was a pupil of Lizst albeit my teacher was more a fan of Bud Powell. He also knew the teacher Tovey who edited Bach and played piano with Joe Harriot when he played down here. I do not ever recall him expressing an opinion on Holst but he was not really interested ij British composers.

4. Holst's ashes were interred in Chichester cathedral near the memorial to the early English composer Thomas Weeks.( Not too far away from the memorial to William Huskisson, the anti Corn Law campaigning MP and the first people to be run over and killed by a steam train. )

Trust this clears things up.

[smittims]

Thanks, Ian. I've always believed the Holsts were orginally from Sweden, but British citizens by the time Gustav was born . I visited Cheltenham for the first time shortly before Christmas, having previously only changed trains there . I was with company and forgot to look for the Holst birthplace. I expect there's at least a blue plaque if not a small museum. I don't think Holst lived there after he moved to London to begin his career. He's more associated with Hammersmith and Thaxted.

I don't know of any particular 'friendship ' between Arnold Bax and Holst. Bax was on reasonably friendly terms with John Ireland and Ralph Vaughan Williams, but he was a shy man who liked to keep his private life private as there were usually two different women one of whom was unaware of the other's existence.

There is another Huskisson monument by the Liverpool and Manchester railway at the spot where he was struck by Rocket on the opening day of the line, a little way east of Newton-le-Willows station. It's a marble plaque housed in a little sort of temple-like shelter. There's a photo of it on the 'Historic England' site.

[LHC]

Thanks, Ian. I've always believed the Holsts were orginally from Sweden, but British citizens by the time Gustav was born . I visited Cheltenham for the first time shortly before Christmas, having previously only changed trains there . I was with company and forgot to look for the Holst birthplace. I expect there's at least a blue plaque if not a small museum. I don't think Holst lived there after he moved to London to begin his career. He's more associated with Hammersmith and Thaxted.

I don't know of any particular 'friendship ' between Arnold Bax and Holst. Bax was on reasonably friendly terms with John Ireland and Ralph Vaughan Williams, but he was a shy man who liked to keep his private life private as there were usually two different women one of whom was unaware of the other's existence.

There is another Huskisson monument by the Liverpool and Manchester railway at the spot where he was struck by Rocket on the opening day of the line, a little way east of Newton-le-Willows station. It's a marble plaque housed in a little sort of temple-like shelter. There's a photo of it on the 'Historic England' site.

English Heritage's Blue Plaques are restricted to London, so there won't be a bue plaque in Cheltenham.

Holst does have a blue plaque, but it's on St Paul's Girl School in Hammersmith and is inscribed with the legend "wrote The Planets and taught here".

[makropulos]

Thanks, Ian. I've always believed the Holsts were orginally from Sweden, but British citizens by the time Gustav was born . I visited Cheltenham for the first time shortly before Christmas, having previously only changed trains there . I was with company and forgot to look for the Holst birthplace. I expect there's at least a blue plaque if not a small museum. I don't think Holst lived there after he moved to London to begin his career. He's more associated with Hammersmith and Thaxted.

I don't know of any particular 'friendship ' between Arnold Bax and Holst. Bax was on reasonably friendly terms with John Ireland and Ralph Vaughan Williams, but he was a shy man who liked to keep his private life private as there were usually two different women one of whom was unaware of the other's existence.

There is another Huskisson monument by the Liverpool and Manchester railway at the spot where he was struck by Rocket on the opening day of the line, a little way east of Newton-le-Willows station. It's a marble plaque housed in a little sort of temple-like shelter. There's a photo of it on the 'Historic England' site.

It's well worth a visit to Cheltenham for the Holst birthplace. Not only small museum, but quite a substantial one, in rather a fine house. It has an excellent research collection too. Here's the website:

https://holstvictorianhouse.org.uk

[CallMePaul]

[QUOTE=Ian Thumwood;n1326702]1. I think many people are unaware that Holst was English. I believe his grandfather was Russian.

I'm sure I read somewhere that GH was of Latvian ancestry, but of course Latvia was then a part of the Russian Empire,

[vinteuil]

1. I think many people are unaware that Holst was English. I believe his grandfather was Russian.

.

I'm sure I read somewhere that GH was of Latvian ancestry, but of course Latvia was then a part of the Russian Empire

wiki advises us :

"Holst was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the elder of the two children of Adolph von Holst, a professional musician, and his wife, Clara Cox, née Lediard. She was of mostly British descent, daughter of a respected Cirencester solicitor; the Holst side of the family was of mixed Swedish, Latvian and German ancestry, with at least one professional musician in each of the previous three generations.

One of Holst's great-grandfathers, Matthias Holst, born in Riga, Latvia, was of German origin; he served as composer and harp-teacher to the Imperial Russian Court in St Petersburg. Matthias's son Gustavus, who moved to England with his parents as a child in 1802, was a composer of salon-style music and a well-known harp teacher. He appropriated the aristocratic prefix "von" and added it to the family name in the hope of gaining enhanced prestige and attracting pupils... "

[smittims]

Thanks, vinteuil. It's valuable to know that Holst's background was more cosmopolitan than I knew. Maybe this has something to do with the popularity of The Planets in more countries than is ususal for British music of that era. .

[richardfinegold]

[QUOTE=CallMePaul;n1326742]

1. I think many people are unaware that Holst was English. I believe his grandfather was Russian.

I'm sure I read somewhere that GH was of Latvian ancestry, but of course Latvia was then a part of the Russian Empire,

I had also thought that Holst ancestry was Latvian. That’s always been a Classical Music Trivia question, guess the nationality of the composer with the Germanic sounding name who was essentially a one hit wonder with a piece redolent of English Folk Song

[smittims]

er..well, that would be Fritz Delius, as he used to call himself! and the piece , Brigg Fair.

[oliver sudden]

Thanks, vinteuil. It's valuable to know that Holst's background was more cosmopolitan than I knew. Maybe this has something to do with the popularity of The Planets in more countries than is ususal for British music of that era. .

My (Serbian, composer, millennial) partner is an unconditional fan of The Planets (as am I) but I have had no luck whatsoever getting her interested in my favourite Elgar or Vaughan Williams, for example. I know it’s not a big sample size but there does indeed appear to be something about that piece. Even when it’s at its most English!

[Barbirollians]

I enjoy Stoky’s version it is a bit of a guilty pleasure. I remain exceptionally fond of the 1978 Boult and the Dutoit . Previn ,Loughran and HVK ‘s Decca recordings I also rate. I never got on with his DG version. Will have to get hold of the Barbirolli.

[Barbirollians]

Talking of Stokowski - Alto has just released a 10CD set of his Everest and Vanguard recordings.