| Naxos essentials | Holst’s reputation depends very largely on The Planets: few composers have achieved such success with a single work. As a result, the rest of his music has been overshadowed, and The Planets often regarded as if it came from nowhere. Yet the music fits naturally into Holst’s output, a logical development from his earlier works, and a pointer to much that he was to achieve subsequently. Since the music fades away into nothing, why should anyone want to bring it back to life? I have to admit to asking myself this question, and if it had not been for the encouragement of Kent Nagano and the Hallé Orchestra, who commissioned this ‘appendix’ to The Planets, I do not think I would have dared undertake such a project. Pluto, the Renewer - I chose the only appropriate astrological attribute I could find - follows on without a break, before Neptune has quite faded away. There could hardly be music slower or more remote than Neptune, and I chose to make Pluto faster even than Mercury, thinking of solar winds, and perhaps the sudden appearance of comets from even more outlying reaches of the solar system. And, as if Holst’s music was still present in the background, all suddenly fades away to reveal the final chord of Neptune sustained in the distance. Colin Matthews |
| Disc No: 8.555776 | |
| Price: Sek. 49 | |
| Name: Holst - The Planets | |
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| Order |
| Composer | Opus | Music | Key | Performer |
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Mars | Op.32 | Royal Scottish National Orchestra - David Lloyd-Jones | |
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Venus | Op.32 | ||
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Mercury | Op.32 | ||
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Jupiter | Op.32 | ||
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Saturn | Op.32 | ||
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Uranus | Op.32 | ||
| Holst, Gustav | The Planets - Neptune | Op.32 | ||
| Matthews, Colin | Pluto The Renewer | |||
| Holst, Gustav | The Mystic Trumpeter | Royal Scottish National Orchestra - David Lloyd-Jones Claire Rutter, soprano |