When investigating the music of Gustav Holst, you ought to hear The Planets before the symphonic poem Indra, the "St. Paul's Suite" before the ballet music from The Lure, and "Edgon Heath" before the Interlude from Act Three of the opera Sita. But if you are already familiar with Holst's best-known works and most of his lesser-known works as well -- and you liked what you've heard -- you should by all means try this disc of Holst rarities with David Atherton leading either the London Philharmonic or the London Symphony. ...
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When investigating the music of Gustav Holst, you ought to hear The Planets before the symphonic poem Indra, the "St. Paul's Suite" before the ballet music from The Lure, and "Edgon Heath" before the Interlude from Act Three of the opera Sita. But if you are already familiar with Holst's best-known works and most of his lesser-known works as well -- and you liked what you've heard -- you should by all means try this disc of Holst rarities with David Atherton leading either the London Philharmonic or the London Symphony. There is much early Holst here, music full of oriental excess -- Indra and Sita -- and of Wagnerian rhetoric -- A Winter Idyll and Elegy (In Memoriam William Morris). There is some later Holst here, music full of nervous vigor and robust brilliance -- The Lure ballet music and particularly the dances from The Morning of the Year. And while not all of the music is top-drawer Holst -- "the later the date, the better the music" holds true -- most of it is at least interesting and some of...
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