HOLST

 

The Planets Op. 32

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann

 

The Perfect Fool Op. 39: Ballet Music

Egdon Heath, a homage to Thomas Hardy Op.47

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

 

A Moorside Suite

Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Elgar Howarth

 

Suites Nos. 1 & 2 for Military Band, Op. 28

Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell

 

St Paul's Suite Op. 29 No. 2

A Fugal Concerto Op. 40 No. 2

Julia Bogorad, Kathryn Greenbank

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood

 

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.

 

Eloquence 2cds ELQ4802323