Gustav Holst

Overview - Recordings - Scores - Books - Links

Born: September 21, 1874, Cheltenham, England
Died: May 25, 1934, London, England

Gustav Holst's two Suites for Military Band are true cornerstones of the concert band repertoire. The First Suite in E Flat was the first significant original work published by a major composer for concert band (vs. a wind ensemble or wind orchestra) in the 20th century. It's tight formal organization has introduced countless band members to the joys of symphonic development, not to mention chaconne form. The Second Suite in F is a folksong suite like the Vaughan Williams, but the Song of the Blacksmith introduces odd meters into the band member's performing repertoire. Hammersmith followed much later, both in composition and publication. Not the crowd-pleaser of the Suites, this is an intricate contrapuntal work that is one of the masterpieces of both Holst's oeuvre and the band literature.

This is one area of the band repertoire that has indeed gotten the attention in deserves. Frederick Fennell and Timothy Reynish both offer marvelous interpretations of all three works. The Reynish CD is particularly attractive as a first CD since it collects together all the wind band works of Holst and Vaughan Williams, and is in marvelous sound. (It does omit the brass band work, A Moorside Suite, found on the Dunn/Dallas CD, but several brass band recordings do well by that work.) The Fennell interpretations with both the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds are classics--if you play in a band in the USA, chances are your director's interpretation will sound much more like Fennell than like Reynish. The Cleveland Symphonic Winds were based on members of the Cleveland Orchestra, and in fact the Holst Suites were the first commercial digital recording of an orchestral group, years before CDs became available. But alas, they never got to Hammersmith. Note that Fennell's Eastman CD of the Suites is in mono; Hammersmith came a few years later and is in stereo.

Many other people have interpreted these works with fine results, but not quite matching Fennell or Reynish's achievements (though I've not Brand's Hammersmith, nor several of the isolated Suite recordings). Your ears, of course, may vary, so go by your tastes. Take a look at the Fanfare reviews as well.

Recordings

Works	Performers	Reviews	Stores
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2 Hammersmith Marching Song	Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra Timothy Reynish	Rabinowitz	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2	Cleveland Symphonic Winds Frederick Fennell	Bauman Chien	Tower Amazon
Hammersmith	Eastman Wind Ensemble Frederick Fennell	McDonald	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2	Eastman Wind Ensemble Frederick Fennell	Rabinowitz	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2 Hammersmith A Moorside Suite	Dallas Wind Symphony Howard Dunn	Rabinowitz	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2 Hammersmith	London Wind Orchestra Denis Wick	Ditsky Chien	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2 Hammersmith	Keystone Wind Ensemble Jack Stamp		Tower
Suite No. 1 Suite No. 2	Norwegian Armed Forces Staff Band Eivind Aadland	Rabinowitz	Tower Amazon
Hammersmith	North Texas Wind Symphony Eugene Corporon	Salas	Tower Amazon
Hammersmith	European Winds Geoffrey Brand		Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1	Eastman Wind Ensemble Donald Hunsberger	North	Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1	University of Michigan Symphony Band H. Robert Reynolds		Tower Amazon
Suite No. 1	North Texas Wind Symphony Eugene Corporon	Ellis	Amazon
Suite No. 1	University of Georgia Wind Symphony H. Dwight Satterwhite		Tower Amazon
Suite No. 2	Edmonton Wind Ensemble Harry Pinchin		Tower Amazon

Scores

Suite No. 1 in E-Flat (Matthews edition)
Suite No. 2 in F (Matthews edition)
Hammersmith

Books

A Comprehensive Biography of Composer Gustav Holst by Jon C. Mitchell