Gustav Holst - The Cloud Messenger Op. 30
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- This piece is the largest of the "Indian" works Holst composed between 1895 and 1914. It is based on the "Meghaduta," an epic poem by Kalidasa, the Indian poet. Holst once said that the translation of this poem took him seven years to complete, "seven happy years, of course." Holst didn't complete this translation alone though. There was a similar translation used by R. W. Frazier in his book, "Silent Gods and Sun Steeped Lands," of which Holst owned a copy.
The Cloud Messenger is about an exiled poet from Central India who sends a cloud toward the Himalaya Mountains to relay a message of love to his wife, who is lonely. There are great moments of dance laced throughout the piece, which serve to symbolize the cloud listening in on the dances in the temples of the holy city. In the end, the cloud delivers its message by speaking softly into the sleeping ear of the poet's wife.
The piece was first performed on 4 March 1913, with Holst conducting the London Choral Society and the New Symphony Orchestra. It received mixed reviews from the public. Vaughan Williams thought the piece was "beautiful," yet Holst's daughter, Imogen, does not speak highly of the piece. Holst himself thought it was the best piece he had written at the time and was extremely disappointed with it's failure. He fell into a deep depression after its premiere and was surprised when he received a gift from an anonymous person which enabled him to go on a vacation in Mallorica, with his friends, Clifford and Arnold Bax.
Conductor: Richard Hickox & London Symphony Orchestra
When Holst died in 1934, R. Vaughan Williams, wrote the following to Holst's daughter Imogen: "My only thought is now that which ever way I turn, what are we to do without him - everything seems to have turned back to him - what would Gustav think or advise to do?" A great tribute to his friend.
Holst wrote 8 operas, 3 ballets, 13 sets of incidental music, 1 film score, 26 orchestral works, 7 works for band, 5 works for solist/s and orchestra, 21 works for chamber ensemble, 1 set of organ works, 7 works for piano solo, 3 works for piano 4 hands, 1 work for 2 pianos, 55 songs and 115 choral works -- 266 works in all -- and he is still mainly recognized for his orchestral suite The Planets Op. 32/H. 125, composed between 1914 - 1916. Since 1974, the centennial of his birth, the world has been re-discovering his music, his other works. They are becoming recognized for the masterpieces they are, even though he regarded his earliest works as "The Early Horrors." His operas Savitri, H. 96 (1908), At the Boar's Head, H. 156 (1924) and The Wandering Scholar, H. 176 (1930) have been recorded as well as the ballet music from The Perfect Fool, H. 150 (1922); but the latter, as well as his operas The Revoke, H. 7 (1895), The Idea, H. 21 (1896), The Youth's Choice, H. 60 (1902) and Sita, H. 89 (1906), are still awaiting their debut on disc. Perhaps by 2024, the sesquicentennial of Holst's birth, most major record companies will have rectified this and also the many other works that remain unrecorded and we may have a "complete edition" of Holst's works instead of only a "collector's edition" or a "best of."
Wow. I am delighted to discover Holst wrote so much more than The Planets! It's like finding the rest of the bookshelf after only knowing Dickens through Tale of Two Cities. The greatest hits mentality seems worse for classical music than for pop. It's also helpful to occasionally be reminded of what humans are capable of beyond the daily diet of hatred fed to the masses by the press.
Hey Simhop, where did you hear this? Curently It's possible to fake an orchestra fairly well using the latest digital/sampled instruments and synths, but it has to be manipulated by a professional musician, and he/she has to go through a lot of work to get a good result. People have been using this for games and film soundtracks as an alternative when there is no budget to record a real orchestra, and at least most of the people (non musicians, i would say) can't tell it's fake. So, computers are able to read a score and play the notes, but it seems we are still way far from having them being able to interpretate the music and edit the nuances that are necessary to make it sounding real. (like more than 80% relies on the human touch yet, lol)
Wow, really? Oh my God.
Gustav Holst, Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives were all born within a few weeks of each other in 1874. Fancy that!
Fancy meeting you here. Congrats on assembling all those works in one giant paragraph. Two of my 12 favorite Holst works are "The Perfect Fool" and "Egdon Heath."
Can you imagine if he was alive today and did the soundtracks for movies?! IT WOULD BE EPIC! No one would dislike going to the movies.
He did actually compose a film score - now completely lost.
+Chris Goddard so sad :/
And now, of course, people like John Williams copy so many of his techniques and works in some of the best movie scores ever.
I wouldnt say copy, but interpret. Williams gets inspired by the classical greats and uses his creativity to make his own. Everyone copies from someone.
Watch Rick Beato's video to hear just how much the music of Star Wars owes to The Planets
I have written half of this novel while listening to Holst music on RUclips.
Thanks, Holst. I owe you more than I can ever express.
No wonder he was frustrated that all the praise went to The Planets, his other works are just as amazing!
I had the great privilege of singing this piece with Tonbridge Philharmonic Society last year - it was outstanding!!!!!!
Oh, man, I wish I'd been there to hear it! (I have a goal of hearing The Hymn of Jesus live at least once, if you ever hear of someone performing that.)
Lucky man David. I just wish I could sing. To be included in a vocal force, as the magnificent choir here obviously is, would be wonderful.
My Senior Project in Music History for my Bachelor's Degree involved acquiring
full scores and compact discs for 33 out 191 compositions by Gustav Holst,
and The Cloud Messenger is one of them. My theory as to why "The Cloud
Messenger" was not a complete success at its premiere is that it is a non-
stop work. Any future performances of this piece may consider having
program notes that inform the audience to be ready for continuous listening.
In terms of performance, if the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
recording is 43 minutes and 8 seconds in length, then that much time
is not only tenuous for an audience member, but even more so for the
vocal and instrumental performers working with the guidance of a
conductor. In my opinion, the LSO & C recording with RH conducting
is outstanding, I believe that this composition by Holst is phenomenal.
How in the world anyone could dislike this is beyond me.
I was about to comment on the exact same thing.
Hannah Scaer He was usually so far ahead of everyone that he mystified the heck out of them. This music may have challenged listeners in England in 1913.
I think you mean how "cloud" any one xD But yeah, people were infortunately not ready yet haha
very much as Stravinsky was booed out of his early performances... now considered a genius.
Kinda like tommy Wiseau?
Sorry, had to :-(
This music doesn't deserve a film. It deserves better.
Quite extraordinary! For many years I've been a fervent admirer of The Planets (but only 1 or 2 years ago did I discover the stunning recording by Stokowski...). Besides The Planets I knew the St. Paul's Suite that seemed to me not nearly so good. It's only very recently that I've been able to listen tho these other pieces. I just discovered that Holst's output was much, much larger than I ever imagined! And, if not all, at least some of these other pieces are remarkable. I suppose in England, at the time, the majority of people were slumbering at Elgar's mild and late post-romanticism, and really were not so much interested in these "esoteric", Indian and otherwise exotic pieces. Perhaps the Beatles would have have been a more sympathetic audience, had they had enough information!... Thanks for the upload. All of you who are doing this work are rendering a good service at least to some members of Mankind! Shared on Google+
Have you heard MSO with Charles Dutoit?
I’ve just experienced the same amazing expansion of Holst’s landscape, Joao. I’m embarrassed it took me so long, because he wrote so much-with melodic conviction and fantastic orchestration skills! There are so many more composers, like Rodrigo, Nielsen, Janacek, Villa-Lobos, Field, Henze, Nono, Xenakis, who I still have on my “listen” list . . . oh my lord, I need three more lives.
Gustav Holst: Impressing me since birth
This is awe-inspiring. Holst was incredible.
All should be personal and based on pleasure, not hierarchy. They should never be comparable as they are not composed in a competition. The best possible compliment is that these works are unique and moving.
L.
Holsts early interest in subjects such as Theosophy, astrology and Sankskrit were not widely understood or appreciated at that time, although even in this more obscure composition his individuality and style which made him famous in 'the Planets' is clearly recognizable. His last compositions show that perhaps he had found what had eluded him in his music throughout his life, which according to his daughter was 'warmth and humanity?'
Absolutely beautiful music. After 38 years of performing choral masterpieces, often at Carnegie Hall and in Europe, this is still on my "bucket" list along with Mahler - Das Klagende Leid and Rachmaninoff - The Bells. I hope to live long enough to get to perform these works. And Daniel, this nerdy looking guy composed "The Planets".
Wow Great Description, I'm finding myself more and more drawn back to music like this.
Love it! This love story is composed most briliantly!! it resonates with my soul!!
Der Chor ist außergewöhnlich schön! Dieses kultivierte Werk soll jenseits Großbritannien viel häufiger aufgeführt und viel höher geschätzt werden.
Wonderful! John Williams has a very good inspiration source. Holst would be the highest master of movie themes today!!
So lush, colorful, beautiful ... love Holst's late-Romantic, Impressionist, Pastoral musical languages !!!
My friend likes to tease me about the fact that when I first started at school and the teacher asked everyone what their favourite music was - most of the kids said things like "The Wheels on the Bus" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and I said "Jupiter". "Jupiter?" replied the teacher. "Yes", I replied, indignantly, "By Holst"
How on earth could this piece have ever been a failure
The chorus is exquisitely beautiful! This sophisticated work should be more frequently performed and more highly estimated beyond the Great Britten.
Wow
Well, I greatly admire Holst's music -- that said, I'm 13 minutes into this and ... so far, it is jaw-droppingly along the lines of, shall we say, "Echoes and Impressions, for Orchestra and Chorus, of My Good Buddy Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony" (which, according to wikipedia, was written between 1903 and 1909, and premiered in 1910.) I mean, it's not a plagiarism, of course, but ... the harmonies, the sweep of cadences, *everything*. It's like "a draft of the Sea Symphony, a draft that got tossed out for some reason."
"Hymn to Jesus" is a marvelous work. Also songs w. voice and violin. He said he resisted composing music unless not doing so became a positive niusance. A true original.
The cloud messenger, inviting you past the clouds, perhaps in to heaven itself. C'mon it's great up here ! If this is how music is 'up there' then we all have much to look forward to. Gustav undoubtedly had his own ideas about heavenly music. He was a master of it. Why don't we hear more, at the 'proms' for instance, where we hear 'the planets' regularly, though much of Gustav's other glorious music is largely ignored. Remedy needed, that's for sure. I have only just recently sought to seek out his 'other' music, always having loved and admired 'the planet suite', and am in a new world, of amazing realisation and of the genius of this Englishman.
his music is fantasic very well played
Like everybody I love The Planets, but The cloud Messenger has been my favorite wok of his since I discovered it on tape cassettes in the early 90's.
Jeff-I got to this piece because I wanted to discover something-anything-else amazing by the composer of the extraordinary Planets. I was disappointed by the Cloud Messenger but seeing as you and others like it very much can you point to a section I should listen to again? I suppose the choral section at 8:30 was pretty stirring but what else? Thanks.
@@joshuasussman4020 Don't listen to it thinking you'll get another The Planets or you'll be disappointed, it's very different. Imagine Ralph Vaughn Williams and Debussy had a musical child!
If I was to point my favorite part, listen carefully from 23:00 to 31:00 or so.
Is this like Messenger but working on the Cloud too?
* leaving RUclips definitely *
No, not at all. More like that DRAM Rowhammer exploit to gain kernel privileges….the type of RUclips hack that could induce bit flips in the page data entries. Think of using such crytographic systems as BitLocker, PGP, though your Elcomsoft Forensic Disk Decrypter MIGHT let you decode the data on the drive, like when you first hear "Gesegnet Soll Sie Schreiten" on RUclips......
* Tip of the hat
I can understand why this work was not received well. It is quite hard to listen to in places because of the advanced harmony and melody plus it is very long. But Vaughn Williams was right, it is beautiful!
That theme in the cellos at 37:09 reminds me of Shostakovich
Just beautiful
It's an instant hit for me.
glorious an magic, amazing music... inspired for the angels ... ¡
Wouldn't be surprised if the anonymous benefactor that enabled him to vacation in Mallorca with the Bax brothers was none other the Bax's, who possessed the means to do so, but I suppose there is no further documentation of this.
Thanks for the music AND the commentary.
I always thought he was German.
was that trip (from the gift) the one when he composed the Planets??
3:40 3:46 1 - Prelude/The Sound of Music
3:30 - 4:18 best part
so boss
6:12-6:27 sounds like Indiana jones
Everything John Williams wrote sounds like Holst...
Video ads during music? Seriously ?
This got mixed reviews?! Well I guess there is no accounting for peoples taste in music. After all, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address got bad reviews initially.
39:53 walking back into hiding
28:22 just after march, they escape
19:51
He looks like Brad Bird
Sound similar to the Star Wars theme
+FocusMrbjarke Holst was actually a major influence on John Williams, the composer of the Star Wars soundtrack and other iconic movies like Superman, Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jurassic Park and Harry Potter. You can hear it. A lot of people actually accuse Williams of "ripping off" Holst, along with a whole bunch of other composers, but honestly classical musical composers include fragments of each other's styles and motifs so often that it's really a part of a greater creative process rather than plagiarism.
+René Ludwig (Renee) yep i am aware of that pretty much the only reason i said it sounded similar to star wars is because it isn't a piece i have seen a lot of people talking about when comparing it to the star wars music frequently it's the planets if it's a piece/suite by holst also other pieces people compare the star wars music the is korngold's music and stravinsky's "the rite of spring"
+FocusMrbjarke
Well, I greatly admire Holst's music -- that said, I'm 13 minutes into this and ... so far, it is jaw-droppingly along the lines of, shall we say, "Echoes and Impressions, for Orchestra and Chorus, of My Good Buddy Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony" (which, according to wikipedia, was written between 1903 and 1909, and premiered in 1910.) I mean, it's not a plagiarism, of course, but ... the harmonies, the sweep of cadences, **everything**. It's like "a draft of the Sea Symphony, a draft that got tossed out for some reason."
Sucks that John Williams ripped Holst off lol
Yea I was kidding, he was obviously inspired by Gustav Holst though... I SWEAR!
The main work of G. Holst is and will remain his "Planets" for posterity
Such a bad chorus singing so great music. What a shame.
critics are the lowest of the low l would rather listen to a child at its first atempt to play music - Than have tio listen to them and their sociapathic self importance
@@kenhillary8108 Apply your method on yourself: use your time to study grammar and spelling, because you write like a drunken parrot.