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GEOFF PEARCE listens to two works by Gustav Holst
'... very evocative and enjoyable ...'
Generally I really like Gustav Holst's music and have taken part in performances of a few of his works and enjoyed the experience. These two works I did not know so was keen to make their acquaintance. Sir Malcolm Sargent was a conductor that was held in high esteem in New Zealand at the time, although he died when I was still very young.
Beni Mora grew out of a visit that Holst had to Algeria in 1908, to recuperate poor health. The suite is in three movements and takes around fifteen to twenty minutes to perform. The title of the work is drawn from a novel by Robert Hitchens called The Garden of Allah which was set in a mythical place called Beni Mora. The third movement, also the longest, is entitled 'In the Street of the Ouled Naïls' and Holst heard an eight note melody being played by an Algerian flute player that lasted about two hours. He jotted down the note sequence, and the resultant movement has often been coined as one of the first examples of minimalism.
Listen — Gustav Holst: In the Street of the Ouled Naïls (Beni Mora Suite)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 3, 3:38-4:24) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
Holst conducted the first performance of this suite in 1912 to a rather mixed reception. The first two movements are entitled First Dance and Second Dance respectively. The work is scored in such a way and the melodic structure gives a feeling of the Middle East with its exotic flavours, and is a very evocative and enjoyable piece, that conjures up an atmosphere rather than trying to recreate authentic music of the place.
Listen — Gustav Holst: Second Dance (Beni Mora Suite)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 2, 0:01-0:34) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
This recording dates from 1956, and the sound landscape is quite different to what one would here in a more modern recording. It has been remastered by an American I had known of as an oboist rather than a recording engineer, Lani Spahr.
Listen — Gustav Holst: First Dance (Beni Mora Suite)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 1, 3:40-4:28) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
Holst built quite a reputation as a composer of choral music, and thus over 1923-24 he wrote this Choral Symphony for a performance in Leeds in 1925 with Albert Coates and the singer Dorothy Silk. It was originally entitled 'The First Choral Symphony'. (He had fragments of a second based on poetry of George Meredith, but this was never brought to anything like completion.) It is based on four diverse poems by John Keats and is structured as a prelude followed by four movements.
Listen — Gustav Holst: Prelude: Invocation to Pan (Choral Symphony)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 4, 2:48-3:27) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
It was well received on its first performance in Leeds, but a second one, a few weeks later in London with the same conductor and soloist was poorly rehearsed and the resulting performance was not at all well received and severely damaged Holst's reputation as a composer. Even Vaughan Williams, who was Holst's friend, and who generally encouraged him, failed to warm to the work.
Listen — Gustav Holst: Song and Bacchanal (Choral Symphony)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 5, 7:02-7:40) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
The piece is substantial, lasts around fifty minutes and has received a few recordings and performances since this particular recording (which many regard as the best of the recordings so far). I feel however that the recording really shows its age and therefore I struggled to enjoy the work.
Listen — Gustav Holst: Finale (Choral Symphony)
(ARIADNE 5040 track 9, 8:11-9:06) ℗ 2025 Somm Recordings :
On saying that, this is a very fine and quite complex symphony, Holst regarded it as one of the finest works he had written, and my favourite recordings of it that I have subsequently listened to are the one from 1974 with Sir Adrian Boult and Felicity Palmer, and the more recent Andrew Davis one with Susan Gritton.
Whilst I enjoyed the Beni Mora suite very much, the account of the Choral Symphony left me disappointed. I admire the work that would have gone into bringing the recording quality up to the commercial release standard, but in that respect it fails, in my estimation, and there are more enjoyable and listenable recordings out there. From the point of capturing an historic live broadcast that would otherwise be lost, it is an interesting look into the past, and I am grateful that this is being released.
Copyright © 17 April 2025
Geoff Pearce,
Sydney, Australia
