Holst: Cotswolds Symphony - Walt Whitman Overture Ulster Orchestra & JoAnn Falletta

• 1 Walt Whitman, Op. 7 07:23
• 2 I. Allegro con brio 03:36
• 3 II. Elegy: Molto adagio (In Memoriam William Morris) 08:37
• 4 III. Scherzo: Presto - Allegretto 04:57
• 5 IV. Finale: Allegro moderato 06:02
• 6 A Winter Idyll 09:05
• 7 I. Prelude: Song of the Fisherman 02:30
• 8 II. Ceremonial Dance 01:33
• 9 III. Dance of the Marionette 01:39
• 10 IV. Interlude: Song of the Fisherman 00:47
• 11 V. Dance under the Cherry Tree 01:59
• 12 VI. Finale: Dance of the Wolves 01:48
• 13 Indra, Op. 13 15:49
• Total Runtime 01:05:45

Info for Holst: Cotswolds Symphony - Walt Whitman Overture

Gustav Holst’s youthful enthusiasm for Wagner is reflected in his ebullient Walt Whitman overture written in 1899. Shortly afterwards he composed the Cotswolds Symphony which embraces hints of contemporary British folk music but is dominated by the slow movement, a profound elegy for the utopian socialist William Morris. Though completed at college, A Winter Idyll shows real orchestral assurance. Indra is an accomplished tone poem revealing Holst’s interest in the legends of India, whilst the glittering and evocative Japanese Suite was written in response to a request from a Japanese dancer appearing in London.

“There’s so much British music around this summer, but here’s some you won’t have heard unless you are a Holst anorak...Good performances, despite a few rough string moments.” (The Times, 2nd June 2012)

“JoAnn Falletta on Naxos conducts from original manuscripts, including for the first time several bars cut by Matthews. Holst fans will want to buy this disc for that reason alone...[Indra] exudes confidence and orchestral mastery. It deserves to be regularly performed.” (BBC Music Magazine, July 2012)

“to judge from these works, all very impressively played by the Ulster Orchestra under its new principal conductor JoAnn Falletta, Holst's style took some years to settle down completely.” (The Guardian, 5th June 2012)

“it is good to hear these works played with such panache” (Gramophone Magazine, August 2012)

Ulster Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Recorded at Ulster Hall, Belfast, UK, 11–12 October 2011
Producer: Tim Handley
Engineer: Phil Rowlands

JoAnn Falletta
serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony in the United States and Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland. She has guest conducted over a hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa and is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center of North Carolina. Recipient of the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, winner of the Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter conducting awards, Falletta has also received eleven ASCAP awards and serves on the U.S. National Council on the Arts. A champion of American music, she has presented nearly five hundred works by American composers including over one hundred world premières. Her Naxos recordings include the double Grammy Award winning disc of works by John Corigliano and GRAMMY® nominated discs of works of Tyberg, Dohnányi, Fuchs, Schubert, and Respighi. For more information, www.joannfalletta.com

Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra is one of Northern Ireland’s cultural cornerstones and since its foundation in 1966 has become one of the major symphony orchestras in the United Kingdom and Ireland. JoAnn Falletta was appointed Principal Conductor in May 2011, the orchestra’s twelfth but first female and first American to be appointed to the post. The Hungarian-born violinist, Tamás Kocsis, leads the Orchestra. Northern Ireland’s only professional symphony orchestra performs in front of over 100,000 people across Northern Ireland each year averaging eighty to ninety performances, including its more than forty main season concerts, lunch-time concerts, BBC invitation concerts and concerts at many regional and national venues such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin and Royal Albert Hall in London. The Ulster Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the significant support it receives from its principal funder the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the BBC, Belfast City Council and many of Northern Ireland’s leading businesses. www.ulsterorchestra.com

Booklet for Holst: Cotswolds Symphony - Walt Whitman Overture