Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
HOLST 150
Sāvitri, Op 25 (1908-09 rev. 1916)
Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (3rd Group) (1909-10)
Four Songs for Voice and Violin (1916-17)
The Evening Watch, Op 43 No 1 (1924)
Hammersmith: A Prelude & Scherzo for Orchestra, Op 52 (1930)
The Perfect Fool – Ballet Music (1918-22)
The Planets, Op 32 (1914-17)
rec. 1945-65
SOMM Recordings Ariadne 5030 [2 CDs: 129]
In 2022, SOMM Recordings paid a handsome 150th anniversary tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams with four volumes of discs under the collective title ‘Vaughan Williams Live’. Fittingly, they now offer a similar, if slightly smaller scale tribute to VW’s great friend, Gustav Holst as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth. One of the two CDs contains performances given in the UK while the other presents two performances from the USA. The audio restoration for the UK performances has been undertaken by Paul Baily while the US recordings were in the hands of Lani Spahr.
Sāvitri is a remarkable work, not least in terms of its compression. Even the scoring is compressed. There are just three solo roles and the accompaniment is provided by a wordless female chorus and a small ensemble consisting of two flutes, cor anglais, two string quartets and a double bass. As you might expect, these forces produce music that is spare in texture and, furthermore, Holst’s music is succinct, though very expressive. The plot is based on an episode in the Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata. In brief, Sāvitri, the wife of Satyavān, hears the voice of Death calling to her at the start of the opera; Death has come to claim her husband. Sāvitri pleads for her husband’s life and eventually Death relents. In this performance, Peter Pears takes the role of Satyavān, Death is sung by Thomas Hemsley and the Greek-Armenian soprano Arda Mandikian (1924-2009) assumes the title role. Whilst I’m very familiar with the voices of the two male protagonists I don’t believe I’ve heard Arda Mandikian sing before. She impressed me with the intensity and evident commitment of her performance. No doubt it’s a coincidence, but it’s pleasing that this example of her artistry should be released in her centenary year. Pears gives a characterful account of the role of Satyavān; his voice is in good condition. Hemsley is a convincingly otherworldly, forbidding presence as Death. Charles Mackerras (not yet knighted) ensures that the music is played and sung incisively. There’s palpable dramatic urgency in every aspect of this performance, which was given at the 1956 Aldeburgh Festival; its appearance on CD is welcome.
All the other performances on Disc 1 derive from the 1965 Cheltenham Music Festival at which it appears that Holst’s music was honoured in the town where he was born. His daughter, Imogen leads the Purcell Singers in two vocal works. The ladies of the group sing one of the sets of Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda; they do so very well. All four hymns come off well but I especially admired the fragile beauty of the first, ‘Hymn to the Dawn’ and the chaste, solemn account of the third, ‘Hymn to Vena’. The Four Songs are settings of anonymous medieval English texts; it seems to me that Holst’s decision to accompany the singer with a violin, rather than the more conventional piano, evokes medieval musical simplicity, even austerity, very successfully. The singer is the English soprano, Honor Sheppard (1931-2021). I think she sings these songs very well; both her tone and her diction are admirably clear. She’s partnered by the violinist Nona Lidell (1927-2017). In the booklet Simon Heffer mentions that she was the leader of the English String Quintet: I was unaware of that; I chiefly remember her as leader of the London Sinfonietta between 1970 and 1994. The songs are well done; I’d single out the touching simplicity of ‘I sing of a maiden that matchless is’ and the lovely rendition of ‘My Leman is so true’. I was glad to hear Imogen Holst conduct The Evening Watch. This is a very beautiful setting for a cappella double choir of words by the metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan (1622-1695). I was reminded just recently, when reviewing a new history of the Three Choirs Festival, that this short motet was commissioned for the 1925 Festival, held in Gloucester; it was cooly received. Holst’s music is slow and thoughtful; the work is by no means a crowd pleaser but that shouldn’t distract listeners from its quality. The present performance is dedicated and impressive. The two short solo roles are well sung by Pauline Stevens and Ian Partridge; I suspect both of them were members of the choir on this occasion.
Finally in this British segment we hear one of Holst’s finest works, Hammersmith. This was composed in 1930 for the BBC Military Band (imagine the Corporation maintaining such an ensemble these days!); the orchestral version, performed here, dates from 1931. I like very much Simon Heffer’s description of the evocative opening music (which returns at the end): “a dark, deep representation of the river [Thames], gliding slowly under the great Hammersmith Bridge”. In the middle of the piece Holst brilliantly illustrates in teeming, colourful music the “organised mayhem” (Heffer) of Hammersmith Broadway. It’s a fascinating and ingenious score. Norman del Mar leads a splendid performance, which is presented in good sound. I was glad that the recording doesn’t include any applause to intrude on the subtle ending
For Disc 2 we cross the Atlantic to experience two performances in which leading British conductors were appearing as guests with American orchestras. Dr Malcolm Sargent (the knighthood came later) guested with Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra in March 1945 to perform inter alia the ballet music from Holst’s opera The Perfect Fool; the venue was the (in)famous Studio 8H in New York. The recording is quite close – there’s less space around the orchestra than we shall experience in the Boston performance which occupies the rest of the disc. As a result, the trombone summons when the Spirit of Earth is invoked at the start sounds somewhat hard of tone. In this section – and in the closing section also – the sound of the timpani, as recorded, is rather booming. The central section, Water, is the most successful sonically because the music is quieter; Sargent obtains a delicate performance. He drives the concluding Fire episode along excitingly, though the recorded sound is a little bit aggressive and also congested. This, I’m absolutely sure, is caused by the dry acoustic of Studio 8H. The quiet ending is well brought off. Despite the sonics – and we mustn’t forget that the recording is nearly 80 years old – the performance is good, as the studio audience acknowledge through their applause.
At the start of this review, I mentioned SOMM’s Vaughan Williams series. One of the recordings included there was a notable performance of Job by Sir Adrian Boult during a series of concerts he gave with the Boston Symphony Orchestra during a guest conducting spell with them at the start of 1946 (review). That performance was given on 26 January 1946. A matter of days later, on 2 February, Sir Adrian led the BSO in the performance of The Planets which is included in this present set. The performance of Job was presented in good sound and that’s also the case here; we experience The Planets in sound that is much easier on the ear than was the case with The Perfect Fool. This recording, as restored by Lani Spahr, is really very good indeed when one considers that the performance took place some 78 years ago.
Of course, it was Sir Adrian who, in the composer’s words ‘first caused The Planets to shine in public’; he conducted the private premiere in 1918 and the public unveiling of the work two years later. By 1946 he would have had further performances under his belt, so the Boston audience was treated to an authoritative interpretation, splendidly played by their orchestra. ‘Mars’ is menacing and powerful; the trumpets – or at least the principal trumpet – are too prominent for my taste, but that’s down to the player(s), not the recording. The nicely measured account of ‘Venus’ is suitably delicate; here, the playing is very sensitive, showing the finesse of Koussevitzky’s BSO. ‘Mercury’ is swift and dexterous. Sir Adrian makes ‘Jupiter’ exuberant and the famous big tune is noble and, to my ears, ideally paced. ‘Saturn’, my favourite of the seven, is slow and mysterious at the start. Later, the processional is built by Boult to a towering climax – at that point I don’t mind the prominent trumpet sound; the first trumpet should be the pinnacle of those monumental chords. Despite the age of the sound, you can tell that the BSO brought off the hushed ending really well. In ‘Uranus’ there’s excellent rhythmic definition; this spirited account brings out the wit in the music. Finally, ‘Neptune’ gets a refined and expertly controlled performance. A point of interest here is that the chorus master of the wordless female choir was Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979), Conductor of the Boston Pops from 1930. The applause after the music has faded into the distance comes as something of a shock. This is a marvellous performance of The Planets, which was well worth issuing. Lani Spahr has worked his customary miracles in terms of the audio restoration.
SOMM label the set as ‘First Releases’ and I believe that applies to all the contents. The release of these performances on CD is as welcome as it’s important. The performances are distinguished and Paul Baily and Lani Spahr have presented them in the best sonic light. The booklet contains an authoritative and valuable essay on Holst’s life and the works in question by Simon Heffer. This set is a worthy anniversary tribute to Gustav Holst and should be snapped up by all admirers of his music.
John Quinn
Previous review: Nick Barnard (September 2024)
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Performance details
Sāvitri
Arda Mandikian (soprano); Peter Pears (tenor); Thomas Hemsley (baritone)
English Opera Group Chorus & Orchestra / Charles Mackerras
rec. live, 22 June 1956, Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, UK
Choral hymns from the Rig Veda
Michael Jeffries (harp); Purcell Singers / Imogen Holst
rec. live 6 July 1965, Town Hall, Cheltenham, UK
Four Songs
Honor Sheppard (soprano); Nona Lidell (violin)
rec. July 1965. Broadcast 31 October 1965, Town Hall, Cheltenham, UK
The Evening Watch
Pauline Stevens (mezzo-soprano); Ian Partridge (tenor); Purcell Singers / Imogen Holst
rec. July 1965. Broadcast 31 October 1965, Town Hall, Cheltenham, UK
Hammersmith
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Norman del Mar
rec. live 9 July 1965, Town Hall, Cheltenham, UK
The Perfect Fool
NBC symphony Orchestra / Malcolm Sargent
rec. live 11 March 1945, Radio City Studio 8H, New York City, USA
The Planets
Boston Symphony Orchestra & Women’s Chorus / Sir Adrian Boult
rec. live 2 February 1936, Symphony Hall, Boston, USA
