The Planets, one of the most popular and colourful orchestral scores of the twentieth century, here rubs shoulders with works showing Holst’s interest in English folksong; the mysticism of India; and his austerely beautiful take on Thomas Hardy’s “The Return of the Native” in Egdon Heath.

Holst was born in Cheltenham in England in 1874 into a family with a long musical tradition. He began composing whilst still at school and then at Oxford. He was sent to London to study with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music, and it was here that he met and became a lifelong friend of Vaughan Williams. In 1905 he was appointed Director of Music at St. Paul's School in Hammersmith, London, a post he held until his death in 1934. Holst's most popular work and the piece that has kept him in the public eye since it was first performed in 1916 is The Planets, and the recording presented here is conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, the man who gave the work it's first performance. Great though The Planets is, it only shows one side of Holst's musical personality and the strength of this set is that it provides the opportunity to explore the other sides of this great master's musical personality.

Artists

Dame Janet Baker

Bournemouth Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Central Band of the Royal Air Force, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, Purcell Singers, Norman Del Mar, André Previn, Sir Adrian Boult, Wing Commander Eric Banks, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Charles Groves, Imogen Holst