Hilary Davan Wetton - Holst: Choral Fantasia, Choral Symphony (1993)

The precise moment that Holst's career hit its apogee can be fixed in history as October 7, 1925, the day his Choral Symphony, setting texts by Keats, was premiered in Leeds. Since the public premiere of The Planets in 1920, Holst had been England's most popular living composer. He was mobbed by his fans at the premiere, but its repeat in London with the same performers three weeks later bored critics and put the audience to sleep. From that moment, Holst's career started to slide and he was soon eclipsed by William Walton as England's most popular living composer. So how is Holst's Choral Symphony? As this 1993 recording by Hilary Dawn Wetton leading the Guilford Choral Society and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra amply demonstrates, it's long. There are moments of wonder, passages of great beauty, pages of sublime and awe-inspiring splendor, but there are also pages of folk songs and pages and pages of serene stillness and quiet. And there were perhaps too many pages of quiet for an audience or critics expecting a follow-up to The Planets. But for an audience and critics who were willing to listen, and as Wetton's performance also amply demonstrates, the wonder, beauty, splendor, and stillness of Holst's Choral Symphony are finer and deeper than anything in The Planets.