Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
The Planets (1918)
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon (b. 1964)
Earth (2024 ) Deborah Cheetham Fraillon (soprano)
Women’s Voices of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Jaime Martin
rec. 2024, Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra MSO0003 [60]
Holst’s The Planets has been popular for over a hundred years, and its popularity shows no signs of waning. It remains one of the rare orchestral works whose title alone can fill a concert hall. Since Holst’s first recording of the complete work in 1926, there have been close to one hundred recordings. To this extensive list can be added this new recording by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under chief conductor and artistic advisor Jaimie Martin which unites the Holst with the world premiere recording of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Earth for soprano and orchestra.
Despite its popularity, The Planets should not be taken for granted. At its first performance in 1918, it was difficult music for both performers and audience. It is quite extraordinary to think that Adrian Boult conducted the first semi-public performance of the work with just two hours rehearsal. While audiences have long become used to its extraordinary harmonies and textures, the music is still a challenge for players and conductor, and for the engineers in recordings. I well remember a few years ago hearing at the BBC Proms a performance by a well-regarded, though still young, conductor who struggled with the work, particularly in Jupiter with its many tempo changes. It almost ground to a halt. The overall shaping of tempi throughout the work has to be very carefully planned. Is the allegro of Mars the same speed as the allegro of Uranus. The same with the adagio of Venus; is it the same as that of Saturn? How does the final andante of Venus relate to these? It is surprising listening to multiple recordings the different ideas conductors have or do not have on these matters.
Another thing to remember about the work is that it is not about planets, at least not in the astronomical sense. Holst’s work was influenced by their astrological significance. A better title would perhaps have been Zodiac with each movement intended to convey the different ‘personalities’ of the planets and the ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the planets on the spirit, not the Roman deities. Even astrologically, Holst misses out the influence of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, and the organisation of the movements does not follow the astrological ordering. Last year, the BBC in one of its rare Proms television broadcasts had for some reason an astronomer talking about the work instead of an astrologer.
Having heard Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces in a London performance in either 1912 or 1914, (Holst originally called the work Seven Pieces for Orchestra), the composer was influenced by orchestral colour and so uses a huge orchestra. As his great friend Vaughan Williams observed, “Holst uses a very large orchestra in the Planets not to make his score look impressive, but because he needs the extra tone colour and knows how to use it”. There are, in addition to the normal woodwind requirements, an alto flute, a cor anglais, a bass oboe and a contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, a tenor tuba, two harps, an organ and an array of percussion. None are wasted and each have their unique part to play.
I doubt I will ever hear a perfect performance of the work; there are too many variables and I have too many ideas about how I think each movement should go. I should probably make a play list of my favourite movements from different recordings. As I have not done that, and for clarity, my go to recording is Roy Goodman with the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra on Carlton Classics (3036600432) issued in 1996 and which uses instruments from the period. The sound is very different to that of our contemporary orchestras, and I find it magical. The strings use gut and the bore of the brass instruments is narrower. His tempi are generally brisker, and there is no wallowing over a certain big tune. Charles Dutoit in 1986 with the Montreal Symphony on Decca (review) always comes out near the top of best recordings and it is indeed very good sonically and interpretively. Maybe for sentimental reasons – after all as Holst wrote, he was the person who “first made the Planets shine” – I like Boult’s 1945 recording which is quite marvellous and brisk; only the period sound quality stops it being near the top of my list. In this I have to disagree with Christopher Howell’s opinion of the recording (review). The work is included on MusicWeb in its masterworks series and many reviews are here (Masterworks).
The work opens with Mars, The Bringer of War and is such a terrifying portrayal of mechanical conflict that it is surprising that it was completed before the beginning of WW1. Holst would have seen it as a study in colour and rhythm and indeed its famous 5/4-meter is as ominous as it is merciless. The question at the very beginning is how fast should it be? Holst marks it allegro, but with no metronome mark in the orchestral score. However, in the two piano manuscript he wrote crotchet = 176, which is very fast indeed. A recent version for solo piano gives the marking as 156, though I am not sure where that came from. It is about the tempo here and it works very well, threatening and ominous but not rushed. The strings playing with the wood of their bow and the timpani with wooden sticks are nicely together, but it is marked piano, but, and this is a problem throughout the recording, I do not feel the quieter markings are followed adequately, so the opening sounds mezzo forte, which means the gradual increase in volume is not as sinister as it should be. After the build-up an instrument comes in with a nervous melody. But what instrument should it be? The score says tenor tuba which generally means euphonium and it is transposed in the score as a euphonium would be in a brass band, an ensemble Holst was very familiar with. Some European conductors such as Karajan have used a Wagner Tuba, which has the same transposition but a very different sound. I would go with the euphonium and James Blackford here is excellent in his neurotic fanfares. Martin shapes the movement very well up to the great chord with full organ at 6’20” and the final emphatic chords are unnerving.
Venus, The Bringer of Peace which follows is a balm to the soul after what has gone before. Solos for different instruments notably French horn, fiendishly high, violin and cello are features of this languid movement. It is well shaped, but the dynamic level is not as quiet as it should or could be. The glistening sounds of the harps and celesta magically colour the coda.
Mercury, The Winged Messenger is the shortest movement, full of staccato and scherzo like exchanges between strings and woodwinds. Again, it is generally very quiet and again not as quiet as it could be. It is also a very tricky play with rhythms, mainly the interplay between 3/4 and 6/8 , three clear beats and two clear beats. Add to this some 4 against 3 and what needs to be a very fast tempo, and it is a minefield. This is probably the weakest interpretation for me. It is a little too slow, and the dynamics which only go from pp to one brief f are too undifferentiated. The harps, which have some very brief, but some very effective arpeggios, tend to disappear into the overall sound at the end.
Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity symbolising hedonism, generosity and good-nature, is undoubtedly the most popular movement of The Planets, but for the wrong reason. The big tune which, an under pressure, Holst allowed to be used for the words “ I vow to thee my country” and became hugely popular, is not what the tune ’means’ in the suite. In 1968 his daughter observed that the hymn setting – it is known liturgically as Thaxted – had been affecting the original Jupiter with “unwanted associations.” Too many conductors now wallow over it which is not what was supposed to happen. In the suite, it should be beneficent and welcoming, much like Dickens’ Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol. The movement starts Allego giocoso and it is the giocoso part which is important. It has to be quick but there has to be an underlying joyous energy to it. Happily, the players here get right into the spirit from the off. The second tune, a folk like melody introduced by the horns is in 3/4 to the opening 2/4 and for some reason which I never understand many conductors slow down even though the markings tell them to keep the same pulse. Happily Martin does not and the six horns sound magnificent. There is no wallowing in the ‘big tune’ in its first and second appearance and the orchestral sound is well captured. All in all, this is a very good reading.
Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age was Holst’s favourite movement. Much of the suite has influenced cinema composers over the years but the unique sound world of this movement has been the most influential. The careful orchestration with the atmospheric use of harp harmonics and low flutes is heard in many a sci-fi film. The ominous clock like ticks which colour the work and which mirrors the inexorable journey of time are marked adagio, but here it is taken just a tad too quickly and the journey is not as terrifying as it should be. Also the marking is pp, indeed the first two minutes do not rise above p, but, sadly, once again, the softer dynamics are not followed This weakens the fff at 4’25” as does the ignoring of the marking animato at 4’29”. This should, for me, as Dylan Thomas wrote much later, “ Rage, rage against the dying of the light” but there is not enough rage for me here. At this climax, the bells are instructed to be played with ‘metal strikers’ which produces an eery, skeletal sound. This can be heard to great effect in Goodman’s version but not here and indeed most other the recordings do not follow Holst’s instructions. Maybe players are worried about damaging the bells, though Holst did not suggest hammers! Still, the engineers capture the sound world as played and even the tiny solo for bass oboe comes out clearly.
Uranus, The Magician moves unnervingly between major and minor keys, the mood sometimes ominous and threatening, then cheeky and humorous. The sound world is very close to Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but with enough quirky touches for Holst to make it his own. The brief appearance of the organ at the climax, to sweep away the spell, is inspired. The timpani have some disruptive utterances with 4 notes against 3 which here sadly disappear into the overall texture.
Neptune, The Mystic which closes the work is one of the most remarkable endings in all of music. The dynamic is pp throughout dropping to pppp then nothing when the door is closed on the women’s chorus. The orchestra are also instructed to play with a ‘”dead tone”. The ethereal scoring should have us on the edge of our seats holding our breath and we should be astounded at how quietly so many people can play, but again we are let down by too loud a dynamic and the slightly too quick a speed spoils the magic. The harps and celesta are beautifully in time and the wordless chorus beautifully in tune, but the magic is not there.
In spite of my niggles, this is a very good addition to the many recordings of the work already available. What lets it down for me is a loss of some orchestral detail and the lack of attention to the quieter dynamics. Throughout his life, Holst suffered from the neuritis in his hands. As a result he was often lax in writing in dynamics to scores and much of this score was written out by his pupils at St Paul’s School under his supervision. However, in 1979 Colin Matthews and Imogen Holst produced a new edition of the score which as well as correcting notational errors of earlier editions gives a full indication of dynamics. It is incumbent on conductors to follow these; they work.
Pluto was not discovered until 1930, long after Holst completed The Planets and he did not show any interest in adding it to his work. Some publishers or conductors have asked composers to add to Holst’s work. In 2006 it was in any case declassified as a planet.
Prior to this In 2000 Kent Nagano asked Colin Matthews to add Pluto to Holst’s work. Pluto, The Renewer was a quicksilver scherzo, influenced not so much by astrology but by solar winds. It is a perfectly fine bit of orchestral writing, but it adds nothing to Holst’s work. Since Pluto’s downgrading there have been few performances, certainly nothing like the number of performances of Holst’s original. In his 2006 recording of The Planets, Simon Rattle also added four new works by different composers denoting a series of asteroids (review).
This disc ends with another planet in addition to Holst’s, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Earth. As the composer has written, “The original premise for this commission from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was to create a movement which would complement the intent of Holst’s The Planets suite…” but that “Somewhere along the way, Earth became a standalone work …”. This is all to the good, as like the Matthews’ work, it does not really add to our understanding of Holst and nor was it influenced by any astrological considerations.
Ms Cheetham Fraillon is a noted First Nations, composer, playwright, gay rights activist and, as we hear here, soprano. Earth was her seventh commission for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. For it, she looked to what sets the Earth apart from its neighbours. For her, this is its humanity, and at the end she sets words by herself for soprano soloist. It is a beautifully orchestrated nine minutes that would work well as music for one of Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries. The stormy opening gradually leads to more lyrical material and the vocal setting at the end, which is maybe a little too sugary. The composer-soloist is in fine voice. Like the Matthews, it is likely to have more success as a work in its own right rather than attached to The Planets.
The cover artwork for the CD was created by Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta artist Simone Thomson and represents various natural elements of the earth, stars, sun, and is quite beautiful. Cheetham Fraillon’s Earth is probably the main selling-point of this issue, so it is a pity she does not get bigger billing in the graphics.
Paul RW Jackson
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