Gustav Holst was a quintessential late bloomer; he began work on one of classical music's undoubted all-time hits, The Planets, when he was 40. The cycle of Holst orchestral works by the BBC Philharmonic under (mostly) Sir Andrew Davis, proceeding at a deliberate pace (Volume 4 appeared in 2018, five years after Volume 3), has already covered that work, and most of the pieces here are rarely programmed or recorded. They may be of most interest to Holst lovers, but really the album offers an unusual look at the development ...
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Gustav Holst was a quintessential late bloomer; he began work on one of classical music's undoubted all-time hits, The Planets, when he was 40. The cycle of Holst orchestral works by the BBC Philharmonic under (mostly) Sir Andrew Davis, proceeding at a deliberate pace (Volume 4 appeared in 2018, five years after Volume 3), has already covered that work, and most of the pieces here are rarely programmed or recorded. They may be of most interest to Holst lovers, but really the album offers an unusual look at the development of a composer's voice, and that ought to be of interest to anyone. Except for the generically late Romantic A Winter Idyll, the other early works on the album contain hints of the mature Holst. In the case of the Invocation for cello and orchestra, Op. 19, No. 2, it's a big hint; the work, in the able hands of cellist Guy Johnston, has the spaciousness and slightly mystical quality of The Planets. Indra, Op. 13 is a short symphonic poem from Holst's Indian period; it is undeniably...
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