If you love the music of Gustav Holst, you either already have or you're about to get this disc. Seven of the eight works on the program are prime examples of the composer's post-Planets maturity receiving their world-premiere recordings and they have a tangible sense of excitement. More than that, all the performances here have an overwhelming sense of passionate advocacy because the conductor is Imogen Holst, the composer's daughter. Agile, strong, bright, direct, and immensely appealing, her performances seemed at the ...
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If you love the music of Gustav Holst, you either already have or you're about to get this disc. Seven of the eight works on the program are prime examples of the composer's post-Planets maturity receiving their world-premiere recordings and they have a tangible sense of excitement. More than that, all the performances here have an overwhelming sense of passionate advocacy because the conductor is Imogen Holst, the composer's daughter. Agile, strong, bright, direct, and immensely appealing, her performances seemed at the time of release to be as convincing as imaginable -- and subsequent recordings, though perhaps better performed, have not improved upon them. Above all, the music is wonderful. Cool, witty, robust, brilliant, and vivacious, Holst's post-Planets music -- his Fugal Concerto for flute, oboe & strings, and especially his Lyric Movement -- is as fine in its way as the best postwar English music by Vaughan Williams, Walton, or Bax -- and distinctly individualistic, too. Although some might...
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