Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter
Apr. 28th, 2011 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylI really loved Tony Palmer's Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter, a biopic of Gustav Holst that combined interviews and music to paint a portrait of the composer's life. The interviews with various knowledgeable figures were perfectly judged and the archive contributions from Imogen Holst were absolutely invaluable — as was the joyous performance of the First Suite for Military Band with an extremely cheerful Imogen conducting.
Although there were occassional musical omissions — I'm not quite sure why The Hymn of Jesus didn't make the cut — the performances were consistantly excellent. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of Holst's setting of This Have I Done for my True Love and the (new to me) setting of Psalm 88. I also liked the intriguing Beni Mora but I wasn't entirely convinced of the need to give it a soft-core backdrop!
I've always loved Holst's music. I remember the first time I heard Mars. I was seven. I loved it so much, I pursuaded my parents to buy a copy of The Planets — Karajan's 1981 recording; one of the very first CDs they bought. I was amazed to find that it wasn't just Mars, there were six other wonderful pieces just waiting to be discovered.
I also realised, long after the event, that almost all the hymns I loved singing at school were either by Holst or Vaughan Williams. I particularly remember the excitement of a school Christmas service at the local church and the music teacher playing the decending figure at the start of Personent Hodie on the organ (Clare Choir make a far better job of it than we ever did!):
Thanks to Palmer's film, knowing what I might be missing, I think I'll make an effort to track down some of the less well known bits of Holst's output.
Although there were occassional musical omissions — I'm not quite sure why The Hymn of Jesus didn't make the cut — the performances were consistantly excellent. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of Holst's setting of This Have I Done for my True Love and the (new to me) setting of Psalm 88. I also liked the intriguing Beni Mora but I wasn't entirely convinced of the need to give it a soft-core backdrop!
I've always loved Holst's music. I remember the first time I heard Mars. I was seven. I loved it so much, I pursuaded my parents to buy a copy of The Planets — Karajan's 1981 recording; one of the very first CDs they bought. I was amazed to find that it wasn't just Mars, there were six other wonderful pieces just waiting to be discovered.
I also realised, long after the event, that almost all the hymns I loved singing at school were either by Holst or Vaughan Williams. I particularly remember the excitement of a school Christmas service at the local church and the music teacher playing the decending figure at the start of Personent Hodie on the organ (Clare Choir make a far better job of it than we ever did!):
Thanks to Palmer's film, knowing what I might be missing, I think I'll make an effort to track down some of the less well known bits of Holst's output.
