Heavenly Holst

Thaxted in Essex is a pretty if unremarkable town, once famous for cutlery but now more famous for lending its name to Princess Diana's favourite hymn tune. The composer was a long term resident who in the early years of the Great War turned his attention from the unfolding horror on earth towards the heavens. Gustav Holst was ahead of his time in many ways. A collection of tone poems was a novel form in the early twentieth century. His appreciation of matters asterological nothing short of inspired. He resisted the temptation to add an eighth 'poem' to his Planets suite after the discovery of Pluto, years before astronomers delegated this diminutive rock to the status of dwarf planet. Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra take it at a rollicking pace. There are moments in 'Jupiter' when it feels rushed but it avoids the sentimentality that must tempt many conductors and at 43:06 is closer to Holst's own impressive 42:30 than most modern recordings.