Best Holst Works: 10 Essential Pieces from the Great Composer

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If we say “Holst”, you will say “Planets”. And that’s true – The Planet Suite is one of the most beautiful pieces in the orchestral repertoire. But would it surprise you to know that Holst’s production was very prolific, with over 200 plays written during his lifetime? Beyond The planets is a vast catalog of works just as masterful. Gustav Holst (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) was an idiosyncratic composer who drew inspiration from a myriad of different artistic influences and cultures. His music even ventured into experimental territory: he was one of the first English composers whose musical language included modernist stylistic techniques such as polytonality and irregular polyrhythms. Scroll down for our selection of the best Holst works with 10 masterpieces by the great composer.

Listen to Gustav Holst The planets, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan, on Apple Music and Spotify and scroll down to discover our selection of the best Holst works.

Best Holst Works: 10 Essential Pieces from the Great Composer

ten: Beni Mora Suite (1912)

Beni Mora, a three-movement piece for orchestra, is a first foray into musical exoticism and Orientalism. Holst’s early style of composition is imbued with the music and sounds he heard on his travels in Algeria in 1908. The very rhythmic and lively dances of Beni Mora have a floating and singing quality, contrasting with menacing atmospheric sections. Exotic influences shine through in the composer’s use of explosive percussions, dark bassoon tones, timpani and flute, and small repetitive themes.

9: Invocation, Op. 19, n ° 2 (1905)

Invocation is a magnificent piece for cello and orchestra. The irregular 7/4 meter gives this piece a hypnotic and meditative feel, which, combined with the dark tones of the cello against shimmering strings, results in a curiously contemplative score. Invocation is another treasure of Holst’s work that deserves more attention: it was only recently that it was unearthed and revived by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

8: Saint-Paul Suite, op. 29, no.2 (1922)

Holst was inspired by musical influences from here and elsewhere. Saint-Paul Suite, so named after the first piece he composed as Music Director of St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, is a wonderful example of Holst as an English neo-nationalist composer and one of his best works. A tribute to English folk music, Saint-Paul Suite begins with a lively ‘Jig’ and ends with a ‘Dargasson’, another English dance, interspersed with the famous Tudor song ‘Greensleeves’.

7: Symphony in F major “The Cotswolds” (1900)

Holst’s first major orchestral work is a tribute to the beautiful English countryside. Nicknamed “The Cotswolds”, where Holst has lived since the age of 20, this symphony is warm and luxurious, bringing the beautiful pastoral landscape to life. The second movement is an elegy, dedicated to William Morris. Holst was truly inspired by Morris’s idealistic and utopian teachings and the Cotswolds score exudes optimism through its catchy rhythms and lyrical, happy melodies.

6: The hymn of Jesus, Op. 37 (1917)

The hymn of Jesus is seen as Holst’s response to World War I: Holst explores ideas of conflict, loss and suffering through a large-scale staging of a hymn, thought by Gnostics to have been sung by Christ and his disciples at the Last Supper. The powerful score is based on two medieval plainsongs, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt and Pange Lingua, and the performing forces required are vast, including two mixed choirs that Holst conducts to be “well separated” from each other. This physical distance between choirs and orchestra is an immersive and bewitching sound that sometimes borders on the beyond.

5: In the dark middle of winter (1906)

Holst’s beautiful arrangement of In the middle of the gloomy winter has become a mainstay of the English Christmas carol collection. The simple and charming melody gives off a warm and joyful feel, with an underlying sense of nostalgia that complements the lyrics perfectly. Holst’s music frames and enriches Christina Rossetti’s famous poem, creating a sense of stillness, meditation and contemplation. The universality of the melody means that, in any arrangement, this song is always a spectacle. Atmospheric, poignant and above all nostalgic, Holst’s In the middle of the gloomy winter is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Christmas repertoire.

4: Egdon heath, Op. 47 (1929)

In the symphonic poem Egdon heath Holst explores the dark pastoral genre. In stark contrast to the cheerful musical characterization of the Cotswolds Symphony, Egdon heath, one of Holst’s best works, is a dark and austere piece of music. Subtitled “A tribute to Thomas Hardy”, the score paints a dark and desolate picture of the landscape invented by Hardy. Holst’s compositional style borders on neoclassical territory, venturing into dark, almost atonal regions with thick, dense edges of strings.

3: The wandering scholar, Op. 50 (1930)

The wandering scholar is a humorous and light-hearted chamber opera, based on the play of the same name by Helen Waddell and a libretto by Clifford Bax (brother of composer Arnold Bax). One of Holst’s last works, The wandering scholar is a curious and deceptively simple work. With reduced performing forces, the score quickly switches from one tune to another, avoiding traditional overtures or even fully formed songs. Weird for an opera, but the music lends itself to comedy as it is played on stage and has a really charming, rustic quality.

2: The cloud messenger, Op. 30 (1910)

Holst drew artistic influence from many wonderful places and The cloud messenger, one of his best works, demonstrates this perfectly. This colossal choral and orchestral work took Holst seven years and puts the words of Megahadita by the Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa. Holst was fascinated by Indian culture; indeed, musicologist Nalini Ghuman has recently traced much of Holst’s compositional style, including The hymn of Jesus, The Planet Suite, and The cloud messenger, back to Indian music. The cloud messenger is one of the earliest examples of musical Orientalism, using irregular frenetic rhythms that do not differ from those later used by Stravinsky in The Rite of Spring.

1: The planets, Op. 729 (1918)

As impressive and vast as Holst’s catalog is, we cannot ignore the goliath which is The Planet Suite. Music and astrology come together in this wonderfully characterful room, with every movement dedicated to a planet. This astonishing score borders on the divine, alternating between the dramatic violence of Mars, the warbearer to the great romanticism of Venus, the carrier of peace, and the excitement Jupiter, the bringer of joy, later used for the anthem ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’. The planets were a watershed moment for Holst, for whom it not only opened the creative floodgates, but combined two of his greatest passions: music and astrology. Holst’s memorial plaque at Chichester Cathedral reads: “The celestial spheres make music for us”.

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