Holst: The Planets – Bax: Tintagel London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Antonio Pappano

• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934): The Planets, Op. 32:
• 1 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War 07:47
• 2 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: II. Venus, the Bringer of Peace 08:55
• 3 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: III. Mercury, the Winged Messenger 03:59
• 4 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity 08:12
• 5 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: V. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age 10:29
• 6 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: VI. Uranus, the Magician 06:03
• 7 Holst: The Planets, Op. 32: VII. Neptune, the Mystic 07:37
• Arnold Bax (1883 - 1953): Tintagel, GP 213:
• 8 Bax: Tintagel, GP 213 16:24
• Total Runtime 01:09:26

Info for Holst: The Planets – Bax: Tintagel

The London Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano capture two British masterpieces that continue to astonish and inspire: Gustav Holst’s beloved Planets suite and Arnold Bax’s sweeping portrait of Cornwall’s rugged coastline in music surging like the sea itself.

When Gustav Holst was working on The Planets, he must have wondered whether he would ever hear it performed. Although his name wasn’t exactly unknown, he’d failed to make the kind of impact his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams had with his Sea Symphony and Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Now, as Europe collapsed into a long and devastating war, Holst was composing an ambitious work for an unusually large, colour-enhanced orchestra, which would stretch the techniques of orchestral musicians to the limit. Thanks to the war, musicians were increasingly thin on the ground, and in any case, these weren’t the kind of conditions in which concert managers would be inclined to take expensive risks.

In choosing the seven then-known planets of our solar system, Holst was owning up to his fascination with astrology—his ‘private vice’ as he called it. There was much more to this than a little private fortune telling. A remark Holst made at the time shows how astrology fitted in with his philosophy as a whole. What astrology confirmed for him, he said, was that ‘everything in this world … is just one big miracle. Or rather, the universe itself is one.’ Holst’s view of the cosmos as a ‘miracle’, in which everything is mysteriously connected, fitted with his abiding interest in Indian religious thought, particularly Buddhist and ancient Hindu scriptures. The very composition of The Planets took on a quasi-mystical aspect: ‘It grew in my mind slowly’, he recalled, ‘like a baby in a mother’s womb’.

Then, when Holst had finished the score, something close to a miracle happened. The wealthy composer and new music promoter Balfour Gardiner saw the score of The Planets and was astonished by its boldness and imaginative power. Gardiner arranged a performance in London’s Queen’s Hall in 1918, with the young Adrian Boult conducting. Right from the outset it was clear that a new chapter in British music had begun: the inhuman martial violence of Mars, the complex rhythmic vitality of Mercury, the glacial stillness of Neptune—nothing like this had been heard from a British composer before. Holst wrote in Boult’s copy of the score, ‘This copy is the property of Adrian Boult who first caused The Planets to shine in public and thereby earned the gratitude of Gustav Holst.’ ...

Tenebrae
London Symphony Orchestra
Antonio Pappano, conductor

Sir Antonio Pappano
is Music Director since 2005. With Sir Antonio Pappano in the role of Music Director since 2005, the stature of the Orchestra has enjoyed extraordinary success, building an international reputation for itself. With Pappano at the helm, the Orchestra has appeared at some of the major music festivals including the Proms in London, White Nights in St. Petersburg, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival and has performed in some of the most world’s best-known venues, including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Royal Albert Hall in London, Salle Pleyel in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Semperoper in Dresden, Carnegie Hall in New York.

After long-term collaboration with some of the biggest international record labels who have produced recordings that have since become legendary, Santa Cecilia Orchestra records extensively for Warner Classic. The releases, under Pappano, include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (with Angela Gheorghiu; the recording won a Brit Award), Verdi’s Requiem (Gramophone Award, BBC Music Magazine, Brit Classical), Rossini’s and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Anna Netrebko (Gramophone Editors’ Choice Award), Rossini’s William Tell, Mahler’s Symphony no.6, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri, Britten’s War Requiem, and a CD entitled Rossini Overtures. Recently recorded, Verdi’s Aida boasts a stellar cast (Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Erwin Schrott) and has taken home numerous awards: Best Recording 2015 for The New York Times and for The Telegraph, Best opera 2015 – Apple Music, Choc Classica de l’année, Diapason D’or and Choix de France Musique, Record of the month for Gramophone, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. A CD also came out in 2015, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 performed by Beatrice Rana, Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen (Decca) and Schumann’s Piano Concerto performed by Jan Lisiecki (DGG).

Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra also recorded Nessun Dorma, The Puccini Album with tenor Jonas Kaufmann (Best Classical Music Recordings of 2015 for The New York Times), which made the world charts, Schumann’s Symphonies no. 2 and no. 4, Elgar’s Symphony no. 1 (ICA Classics), the cd “Anna Netrebko. Verismo” (DGG), Le Carnaval des Animaux with Martha Argerich, the Bernstein’s Symphonies (Warner Classics), Verdi’s Otello with Jonas Kaufmann (Sony Classical) and Tudor Queens with Diana Damrau (Warner Classics)

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