Celebrating Gustav Holst’s 150th Anniversary- Today!

Today, 21 September 2024, marks the 150th anniversary of Gustav Holst’s birth. Born in Cheltenham, Holst is best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, which remains a cornerstone of classical music. Beyond this iconic work, Holst’s extensive oeuvre includes choral pieces, operas, and chamber music, reflecting his innovative spirit and deep connection to English folk traditions. His contributions to music education, particularly at St. Paul’s Girls’ School, further cement his legacy.

My introduction to Holst was not The Planets. Back in 1973, when I was first getting to grips with British Music, a friend lent me an LP of his music. It was issued on the Lyrita label (SRCS.34).

The Gramophone (March 1967, p.511) featured a letter from Richard Itter, the founder and owner of the Lyrita Recorded Editon, which stated that “…Miss Imogen Holst has recently completed a recording of her father’s music with the English Chamber Orchestra....It is scheduled for early release.” Works to be included were the Fugal Concerto, and the premiere recordings of the Lyric Movement for viola and orchestra and the Brook Green Suite. He did not mention St Paul’s Suite and the Nocturne, both for string orchestra.

I remember listening to the Brook Green Suite first. It had been composed in 1933 for the junior orchestra of St Paul’s Girl’ School in Hammersmith. Written while Holst was in hospital, the suite features three movements: Prelude, Air, and Dance. It blends pastoral themes with folk influences, highlighting Holst’s ability to create accessible yet richly textured music. It was the arcadian aspect the impressed me, especially in the Air. Equally appealing to my imagination was the St Paul’s Suite. Written some 20 years previously for the same school ensemble, this four-movement suite for string orchestra incorporates English folk tunes and shows Holst’s skill in blending traditional melodies with classical forms. The four movements are, Jig, Ostinato, Intermezzo and Finale. This last movement includes The Dargason, which is a traditional English folk tune dating back to the 16th century. It was originally used for country dances and ballads. Holst cleverly combined this with the well-known Greensleeves.

Looking back over half a century I cannot now recall what I felt about the Nocturne for strings. The sleeve notes explain that Imogen Holst had found this unfinished piece in her late father’s manuscripts. It was in fact part of his “almost completed” arrangement of his Moorside Suite for string orchestra. This work had originally been written for brass band. Listening once again to this evocative and melancholic, I feel that it nods to RVW’s Tallis Fantasia and Elgar.

In 1952, the composer Gordon Jacob arranged the entire suite for strings. It can be heard on Lyrita SRCD.210.

In a contemporary review (Musical Times, July 1967, p.621f), Diana McVeagh sums up the Lyric Movement for viola and small orchestra: “[This is] a bigger, stronger, darker conception than the title suggests. It was composed during Holst's last year and is economical but not self-denying. There is more than a hint of passion and vehemence, perfectly scaled within its 10 minutes.”

At the time I did not “get it” but many years on think that it is one of Holst’s most perfectly conceived miniatures. This late work, written in the year before his death, was dedicated to the great violist Lionel Tertis. It is conceived in a single movement that covers a lot of emotional ground, with the pastoral feel being kept in check by its austere beauty.

Until hearing Holst’s Fugal Concerto for flute, oboe, and strings, I had associated the fugue form solely with J.S. Bach, especially, his organ music and the ‘48.’ Once again, Diana McVeagh (op.cit.) explains, “It used to be thought 'desiccated'; even Miss Holst in 1951 talked of the “dry and brittle ingenuity in its counterpoint;” but in this performance themes with good sharp profiles run easily, almost wittily, in the frank open texture of the first movement. The Adagio opens with Bach like meaningful arabesques and then moves surely, poignantly, through progressions of a wholly 20th century sensibility. But the last movement exposes one of the problems of Holst's period: English tunes acted as a liberation, but not always as good props; and If all the world were paper, worked in to make a double fugue, sounds rather tricksy after the independence of the first two movements.” It is a piece that I have grown into over the past half century: it did not appeal to me in 1974.

As for The Planets, I had to wait until the following year, to hear a performance at the Glasgow Proms held then at the Kelvin Hall.

All the pieces on this vinyl LP have been reissued on CD, Lyrita SRCD.223. Other works included on this great disc are English Chamber Orchestra under Imogen Holst, Two Songs without Words, op.22 (1906), Ballet Music from The Golden Goose, op.45, no.1 (1926,1969), the Double Concerto for two violins and orchestra, op.49, and the Capriccio of orchestra, (1933) edited by Imogen Holst (1968).