Holst and Vaughan Williams: Making Music English - BBC2, Sat Nov 17th

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes to the Hymn of Jesus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIiU2OxfWsQ

Of the works that S_A mentions, Lenny Henry was very taken by the Ode to Death at a single hearing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVY6C7NOjdY

Others are available (for less than the cost of a single full-price CD!) in this 6 CD box:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Collectors-Various-Artists/dp/B007QEHQY6

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd say go for this one:



Lots of fine works in decent performances. including The Wandering Scholar and Ode to Death.

Others are available (for less than the cost of a single full-price CD!) in this 6 CD box:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Colle.../dp/B007QEHQY6

SNAP!

(I mean - 6CDs for £14 including P&P!)

Pity they didn't include Savitri, though.

[Bryn]

SNAP!

(I mean - 6CDs for £14 including P&P!)

Pity they didn't include Savitri, though.

The Aussie Eloquence option looks the best for Savitri.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Aussie Eloquence option looks the best for Savitri.

I'd "forgotten" that it was DECCA (?ARGO?) - explains why it wasn't in the EMI box!

[Pulcinella]

SNAP!

(I mean - 6CDs for £14 including P&P!)

Pity they didn't include Savitri, though.

Ordered, despite some duplications!

I'd "forgotten" that it was DECCA (?ARGO?) - explains why it wasn't in the EMI box!

It's in this Decca 2CD set as well as the Australian Eloquence one Bryn mentions:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7923827--british-music-collection-gustav-holst

[LMcD]

Naxos 8.553696:
Somerset Rhapsody / Beni Mora / Invocation / Fugal Overture / Egdon Heath / Hammersmith
Chandos 9270:
Double Concerto / Two Songs Without Words / Lyric Movement / Brook Green Suite / Fugal Concerto / St Paul's Suite

[Pulcinella]

Naxos 8.553696:
Somerset Rhapsody / Beni Mora / Invocation / Fugal Overture / Egdon Heath / Hammersmith
Chandos 9270:
Double Concerto / Two Songs Without Words / Lyric Movement / Brook Green Suite / Fugal Concerto / St Paul's Suite

to the Naxos collection; I don't know the Chandos one.
Any comments on the Naxos compilation that includes the Cotswold Symphony, which I don't know either?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Cotswolds-Symphony-Overture-Japanese/dp/B007WB5D8Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1542873155&sr=1-1

[LMcD]

to the Naxos collection; I don't know the Chandos one.
Any comments on the Naxos compilation that includes the Cotswold Symphony, which I don't know either?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Cotsw...2873155&sr=1-1

The Chandos is now, I've just discovered, CHAN 10948X. (Nicholas Ward, one of the soloists in the Double Concerto, is the brother of Hattie Bennett who is the controlling genius behind Music in Felixstowe. Nicholas frequently appears at local concerts, and it's a great privilege to be able to hear him 'live').

I have heard the Cotswold Symphony twice recently - somebody at Classic FM seems to like it - but I can't say that I was greatly impressed.

Other recommendable CDs relevant to this discussion...

Sanctuary Classics/Resonance RSN3006:
Holst Suites 1 and 2 and Hammersmith, together with RVW English Folk Song Suite and Toccata Marziale, played by Dennis Wicks and the London Wind Orchestra.

Hyperion CDA 67381/2:
Early chamber works performed by the Nash Ensemble

Double Decca 460 357-2:
Orchestral Works including the Oboe Concerto and Concerto Grosso and the Partita.

[Serial_Apologist]

I guess all the recommendations given pretty much answer Silvestrioni's question to me, with the added benefits of researched recordings choices. Thanks to everybody: my round!

[silvestrione]

I guess all the recommendations given pretty much answer Silvestrioni's question to me, with the added benefits of researched recordings choices. Thanks to everybody: my round!

Yes indeed, thanks to everyone, I've done some orders, and am looking forward to a feast of Holst!

[Pulcinella]

Apparently, both Holst and RVW wrote their settings of Whitman's Dirge for two veterans in 1914, RVW later incorporating his into Dona Nobis Pacem.
Did something 'trigger' (no pun intended, given the imminent war) them at the same time, I wonder.
I like both settings very much: the RVW is particularly moving; the Holst deserves wider exposure (imho).

PS: I have just discovered that Weill set it too (along with three other Whitman poems). Included in Bostridge's recent CD with Pappano.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I sang in Dona Nobis Pacem on Saturday, and went to an illustrated talk/lecture on RVW, WW1 and Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains on Tuesday. Together with the Holst / RVW BBC4 programme it set me roving around and I turned up, again, this clip of Hickox discussing the (marvellous) Sadlers Wells production of Pilgrims Progress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70g...BdFPllOPKK0y2H

Which brings me to the Tallis Fantasia - why, oh why will the BBC not repeat the RVW programme in this 1999 (pre iPlayer) series (all BBC forces - surely the rights costs to re-broadcast must be modest). It could easily contribute to their Arts output and displace two of those awful TOTP repeats.
Series details : https://www.paleycenter.org/collecti...1&item=T:71345

which had this wonderful performance of the Fantasia (of which you may well be aware) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihx5LCF1yJY

I keep wondering if there is any way to get the BBC to broadcast it again! I would love to see this programme (must have missed it first time round) as well as the performance.....

[Pulcinella]

I sang in Dona Nobis Pacem on Saturday, and went to an illustrated talk/lecture on RVW, WW1 and Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains on Tuesday. Together with the Holst / RVW BBC4 programme it set me roving around and I turned up, again, this clip of Hickox discussing the (marvellous) Sadlers Wells production of Pilgrims Progress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70g...BdFPllOPKK0y2H

Which brings me to the Tallis Fantasia - why, oh why will the BBC not repeat the RVW programme in this 1999 (pre iPlayer) series (all BBC forces - surely the rights costs to re-broadcast must be modest). It could easily contribute to their Arts output and displace two of those awful TOTP repeats.
Series details : https://www.paleycenter.org/collecti...1&item=T:71345

which had this wonderful performance of the Fantasia (of which you may well be aware) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihx5LCF1yJY

I keep wondering if there is any way to get the BBC to broadcast it again! I would love to see this programme (must have missed it first time round) as well as the performance.....

That Tallis Fantasia performance made it onto a BBC MM CD, as the filler to Belshazzar's Feast: Vol 7 no 11.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walton-Belshazzars-Feast-Williams-Fantasia/dp/B00H7YKVMY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1542974333&sr=8-4&keywords=Walton+belshazzar+davis

[Serial_Apologist]

Apparently, both Holst and RVW wrote their settings of Whitman's Dirge for two veterans in 1914, RVW later incorporating his into Dona Nobis Pacem.
Did something 'trigger' (no pun intended, given the imminent war) them at the same time, I wonder.
I like both settings very much: the RVW is particularly moving; the Holst deserves wider exposure (imho).

PS: I have just discovered that Weill set it too (along with three other Whitman poems). Included in Bostridge's recent CD with Pappano.

From what I remember when both were featured as COTW, Holst wrote his setting of the Whitman poem in 1914, whereas VW's was from 1911, though I stand to be corrected.

[Pulcinella]

From what I remember when both were featured as COTW, Holst wrote his setting of the Whitman poem in 1914, whereas VW's was from 1911, though I stand to be corrected.

I got the RVW date from Wiki; doesn't mean it's right!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dona_nobis_pacem_(Vaughan_Williams)

PS: You may well be right. In The works of RVW by Michael Kennedy, 1911 is given (in reference to a performance of a setting of the same text by Charles Wood). Second edition, p163. On p272, though, Kennedy simply says that it was written 'before 1914'.