Hidden Holst VII: Symphony in F, op.8 ‘The Cotswolds’

For my final post about the lesser-known music of Gustav Holst, I decided on the ‘Cotswold Symphony.’ Two days later, I heard an early morning performance of the fourth movement of this work on Classic fM. So, it is not so hidden after all!

Since becoming interested in British Music, back in the early 1970s, this was a piece that I knew about and wanted to hear. It was not until the release of the Classico CD in 1999 that I was able to get to grips with it. At first, I was a little disappointed, in that it did not fulfil my naïve expectations of a pastoral evocation of that delightful part of England. Yet, over the past 25 years, my opinion of this work has increased dramatically.

It was composed around the turn of the century, between 1899 and 1900, with Holst completing it in Skegness, Lincolnshire on 24 July 1900. The symphony was premiered in the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth on 24 April 1902 by the innovative Sir Dan Godfrey and the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra.

The Symphony is written in four stylistically unbalanced movements, and for some, this may spoil its impact. The opening Allegro con brio does nod to the countryside - with allusions to, if not direct quotes from, English folk song. It is a ‘march’ that fairly romps along.

The second movement is the deeply moving Elegy (In Memoriam William Morris). This is a shadowy, unsmiling piece that is funereal in its exposition. It is conceived as a processional- with a massive climax in the middle section. I am not a huge fan of Morris’s escapism, however, there is nothing of the daydream about this music. It has been suggested that this was Holst’s response to the Boer War rather than the writer, artist, and utopian socialist activist. This ‘Wagnerian’ movement functions perfectly in a standalone performance.

The equilibrium is wrenched back to lighter matters with the Scherzo which balances the ‘will o’ the wisp’ with a little ‘clodhopping.’ It is a good essay in creating all the fun of the ‘fairground.’ There are a few moments of a more serious nature amongst the celebration.

The Finale is a joy. It is a fusion of the world of folksong once again and of Johannes Brahms and Holst’s teacher at the RCM, Charles Villiers Stanford. Yet, this is well-written, and Lewis Foreman (Liner notes, Classico CLASSCD 284) has suggested that it has all the trappings of “a harvest hymn, a celebration at the end of the country people’s annual cycle.”

Imogen Holst (The Music of Gustav Holst and Holst's Music Reconsidered, OUP, 1986) has intimated that: “[Holst’s] biggest work at this time was the ‘Cotswolds Symphony.’ It was meant to express his deep love of the Cotswold hills, but his feelings are scarcely recognizable. Searching for a symbol of the English countryside he found nothing to build on except the imitation Tudor heartiness of Edward German. It was a makeshift symbol, and having borrowed it, he hardly knew what to do with it, beyond placing it in the approved mould, and hoping it would turn out all right. The first movement makes all the correct gestures and travels in the appropriate directions, but it bears no resemblance to the journey of his mind while walking the stretch of hills between Wyck Rissington and Bourton-on-the-Water. The slow movement, an Elegy in memory of William Morris has moments in it where the intensity of his thought breaks through the inadequacies of his language. Here the words ‘senza espress’ make their first appearance, showing the beginnings of a line of thought that was to lead him through the ‘dead’ pp of Neptune to the mysterious monotony of Egdon Heath. It is by far the best movement in the work. There is nothing characteristic about the Scherzo except the fact that its tune is built on a structure of melodic fourths, while in the last movement he is back once again in a surge of chromatic modulations and striving sequences. There was to be no escape from their clutches for many years to come.”

For me, although I understand that the Cotswold Symphony was a ‘prentice work, it is tuneful, engaging, often exuberant and occasionally deeply moving. It deserves more than an occasional outing in concert halls.

Discography:
Holst, Gustav, Symphony in F major, op. 8, H47, ‘The Cotswolds,’ Munich Symphony Orchestra/Douglas Bostock, Classico CLASSCD 284 (1999)

Holst, Gustav, Symphony in F major, op. 8, H47, ‘The Cotswolds,’ Ulster Orchestra JoAnn Falletta, Naxos 8.572914 (2011)

Gustav Holst’s Symphony in F, op.8 can be heard on YouTube, here. This is the Ulster Orchestra version.