Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 Susan Gritton, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus & Sir Andrew Davis

• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934): The Mystic Trumpeter, Op. 18, H. 71:
• 1Holst: The Mystic Trumpeter, Op. 18, H. 71: Hark! Some wild trumpeter (Revised 1912)06:31
• 2Holst: The Mystic Trumpeter, Op. 18, H. 71: Blow again, trumpeter - O, how the immortal phantoms crowd around me (Revised 1912)03:17
• 3Holst: The Mystic Trumpeter, Op. 18, H. 71: Blow again, trumpeter - O trumpeter (Revised 1912)03:14
• 4Holst: The Mystic Trumpeter, Op. 18, H. 71: Now trumpeter, for thy close (Revised 1912)05:30
• First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, Prelude:
• 5Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, Prelude: Invocation to Pan "O Thou, whose mighty palace roof doth hang" (Chorus)03:38
• First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, I, Song and Bacchanal:
• 6Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, I, Song and Bacchanal: Ia. Beneath my palm trees, by the river side (Soprano)04:33
• 7Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, I, Song and Bacchanal: Ib. And as I sat, over the light blue hills (Soprano)01:38
• 8Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, I, Song and Bacchanal: II - IV. Whence came ye, merry Damsels! whence came ye! (Chorus) - Within his car, aloft, young Bacchus stood (Soprano) - Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs (Chorus)02:09
• 9Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, I, Song and Bacchanal: V & VI. Onward the tiger and the leopard pants (Soprano) - Bacchus, young Bacchus (Chorus)02:07
• First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn:
• 10Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness (Chorus)02:58
• 11Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn: Heard melodies are sweet, but those undeard (Chorus)02:09
• 12Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn: Ah, happy boughs! that cannot shed (Chorus)01:48
• 13Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn: Who are these coming to the sacrifice? (Chorus)02:01
• 14Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, II, Ode on a Grecian Urn: O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede (Chorus)03:15
• First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, III, Scherzo:
• 15Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, III, Scherzo: I. Fancy "Ever let the Fancy roam" (Chorus)02:56
• 16Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, III, Scherzo: II. Folly's Song "When wedding fiddles are a-playing" (Chorus)02:47
• First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale:
• 17Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale: I & II. Spirit here that reignest! (Soprano) - God of the Golden bow (Chorus)03:16
• 18Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale: III & IV. Then, through thy Temple wide (Soprano) - Tis awful silence then again (Chorus)05:18
• 19Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale: V & VIa. Next thy Tasso's ardent numbers (Soprano) - But when Thou joinest with the Nine (Chorus)03:17
• 20Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale: VIb. Bards of Passion and of Mirth (Chorus)04:49
• 21Holst: First Choral Symphony, Op. 41, H. 155, IV, Finale: VII. Spirit here that reignest! (Soprano) - Bards of Passion and of Mirth (Chorus)02:05
• Total Runtime01:09:16

Info zu Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3

Composed originally in 1904 and revised in 1912, The Mystic Trumpeter received only two performances in Holst’s lifetime, and it was not revived until 1980. Holst based this work on a poem from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The influence of Hindu thought is clearly present throughout the piece, while musically there are fingerprints of his later style too, particularly in the use of bitonality (two different keys used simultaneously). The ending, calm and beautifully serene, is wholly characteristic of the mature Holst’s ability to do the unexpected.

Holst drafted the First Choral Symphony in 1923, shortly after his largely unsuccessful attempt at grand opera with The Perfect Fool. The mixed reception that the Symphony received was to some extend provoked by his choice of texts. All are by Keats, but they are still vastly different one from another. Holst chose them for their ability to stimulate his musical imagination, and the fact that, verbally, they followed little or no sequence was of no great concern to him. In the texts from Endymion, for example, his exuberant side is given free rein, while Ode on a Grecian Urn reveals another side, one of calm and composure. ‘Fancy’, from Extracts from an Opera, is set as a whirling Scherzo, ‘Folly’s Song’ serving as a contrasting earthbound trio. Holst himself said of this Symphony: ‘I think the work as a whole is the best thing I have written.’

Susan Gritton, soprano
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis, conductor

Susan Gritton
studierte Botanik bevor sie ihre Karriere als Sängerin begann. 1994 gewann sie den Kathleen-Ferrier-Wettbewerb und gastierte seither an zahlreichen Opernhäusern, u.a. am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, am Teatro La Fenice in Venedig, beim Glyndebourne Festival, in Sydney, Berlin, Mailand und Rom. Ihr Repertoire umfasst Partien wie Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Liù (Turandot), Micaëla (Carmen), Madeleine (Capriccio), Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) sowie die Titelpartien von Händels Theodora und Rodelinda. Konzertauftritte hatte sie u.a. mit den Berliner Philharmonikern unter Sir Simon Rattle, dem London Symphony Orchestra unter Daniel Harding und New York Philharmonic unter Colin Davis. Partie an der Bayerischen Staatsoper 2010/11: Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites).

Booklet für Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3