Tirole Beni

The reasons for Holst’s relative neglect, beyond The Planets and the Band Suites, aren’t hard to fathom. He wrote no large works in conventional forms, and never repeated himself. Even the Choral Symphony on poetry by Keats, here in its finest recorded performance to date (by Boult), owes very little to precedent–Mahler’s Eighth and Elgar’s The Black Knight, perhaps–and in any case features Holst’s personal combination of “spacey” orchestral color and rhythmic complexity (sample below). The music is both personal, technically virtuosic, and however beautiful somewhat cool emotionally. There is nothing else quite like it in the early 20th century.

That The Planets occupies a place at the heart of the English musical repertoire is indisputable, yet much of Holst’s orchestral output is unjustly neglected. Chandos’ series demonstrates that Holst was a composer whose inventiveness and originality was not limited to one work. The series was originally to be conducted by Richard Hickox who sadly passed away in 2009 after completing Volume 1, released to great critical acclaim. Gramophone stated that ‘Richard Hickox’s final project, reviving little-known Holst works, is a triumph’.

The Second Volume of Leonard Bernsteins complete recorded legacy on Deutsche Grammophon: an original jackets collection in an LP-size box with deluxe book, taking in some of his most famous and celebrated recordings. The set comprises Bernsteins complete recordings of composers from Mahler (19 CDs) to Wagner. Includes all of Bernsteins recordings of Mendelssohn, Mozart, Puccini, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Strauss, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. This repertoire is supplemented by the five American Decca CDs, with performances and analyses of Beethovens Erocia, Schumanns Second, Dvoraks New World, Brahmss Fourth and Tchaikovskys Pathetique.

Considering that Edip Akbayram was still active in 2006 and, in fact, enjoying a comeback of sorts in Turkey, some people might think this two-CD self-titled album is a career-encompassing "best-of." Truth is, there is no indication whatsoever in this album's booklet as to where these 24 tracks come from, but the press release states they are "the best psych tracks from his first two albums and many related singles," which would imply that the tracks were all recorded in the early '70s. An important figure in Turkish pop music, Akbayram and his band Dostlar were among the most successful at integrating Western instruments and structures into local music. What they came up with is an infectious, personal, and deeply honest form of psychedelic rock…