Gustav Holst - The Cloud Messenger; The Hymn of Jesus

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

The Cloud Messenger

The Hymn of Jesus

Richard Hickox , London Symphony Chorus , London Symphony Orchestra ,
Della Jones (Mezzo-soprano)

Here is a real discovery. In her book on her father's music, Imogen Holst dismissed The Cloud Messenger as "a dismal failure" and in his recent study of the composer Michael Short is not much more enthusiastic. Yet probably neither author heard the work in performance. Holst himself regarded it as important and was deeply despondent when its first performance in 1913 was a failure. Since then it has hardly been heard and this recording is almost certainly the first fully professional performance for decades.

So once again a fatal initial verdict has kept fine music from listeners for the best part of a century. The Cloud Messenger proves to be a lengthy (45 minutes) and large-scale work of considerable imaginative power, a setting of a Sanskrit text translated by Holst. Its scope makes the appearance of The Planets as his next work much less surprising. There are one or two weak passages, as there are in Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony, but very many more of striking beauty, superbly written for the choir and imaginatively scored. Some episodes are prophetic of The Hymn of Jesus, which is also included on this disc. Imogen Holst seems to have disapproved of the romantic strain in some of Holst's pre-1914 works, deriding them as "Wagnerian". I think the combination of warmth and ascetic ecstasy is what gives Holst his originality, and I hope that Richard Hickox's enterprise in unearthing this superb work will be rewarded by its restoration to its rightful place. Performance and recording alike are first-rate, with Della Jones a dramatic soloist in the middle section.

There has never been any question about the mastery of The Hymn of Jesus. Perhaps Boult's restrained approach (coupled with The Dream of Gerontius on a two-disc set from Decca) comes nearer to what Holst intended, but there is certainly room for Hickox's more expansive interpretation. In any case, though, it's The Cloud Messenger that makes this disc unmissable for devotees of British music - and, I hope, by others. Dismal failure, my foot! M.K.

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The Cloud Messenger Op. 30 is an engaging work for choir and orchestra. It is perhaps the biggest of the "Indian" works Gustav Holst composed between 1895 and 1914.

The work is based on the epic poem by Kalidasa called the Meghaduta. Holst was a Sanskrit adept and scholar of Indian occult (as was Scriabin). His translation of the Meghaduta took him seven years. The Cloud Messenger is about an exiled poet who sends a cloud to the Himalayas with messages of love to his wife.

It was first performed on March 4th, 1913, with the London Choral Society and the New Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the composer. It failed to make an impression, though, and has largely been absent from concerts since its première. Although the public wasn’t thrilled with this lovely work, other composers such as Vaughan Williams thought highly of it. Its general unacceptance was a blow to Holst, who considered it the best piece he had written at the time. Its failure sent him into a yawning depression from which he emerged to compose The Planets.

The Cloud Messenger is reminiscent of Wagner in some respects. True, Parcifal held a fascination for Holst, but the bleak opening of The Cloud Messenger is more suggestive of the Prelude to Act Three of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, particularly in the use of double reed instruments and the somber chords moving slowly through the thin orchestral fabric. The harmonies, though obviously chromatic (as Wagner’s harmonies famously were), move in less linear fashion and, though inventive, the music is not so Teutonic as Wagner’s but is firmly rooted in the choral tradition of England.

“I found myself in thought transposed quite easily and without volition to a region of great remoteness,” was composer Arthur Bliss’s reaction when first hearing it. The only recording available is with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Richard Hickox [Chandos CHAN 8901 ASIN: B000000ALV reissued in 1999 as a two disk set ASIN: B00000IYN5 and packaged with a bunch of other works by Holst].

It is difficult to evaluate this performance as there are no other recordings to compare it to and the score is not readily available but one would guess that the dynamics are not wide enough. The big outburst of the choir at the invocation to the cloud probably should have been louder while the Contralto solo delicately accompanied by wood winds and a solo viola is likely supposed to be much softer. Obviously, I'm just giving my impressions or, rather, talking off the top of my head.

A solid performance of Holst’s The Hymn of Jesus rounds out the 1992 version of the CD. This is a polite, solid presentation but, again, it could have done with a broader dynamic range.

The Cloud Messenger is a fascinating work sure to impress with its grandeur and invention. For anyone who would like to hear more of the music of the man who wrote The Planets this is an obvious choice.

Dr. Scott Giles