ホルスト: 雲の使者(室内楽版)

ホルストの隠れた名作
「雲の使者」の新たな録音!

ホルストの「雲の使者(クラウド・メッセンジャー)」は、インドの詩人カーリダーサのテキストに曲を付けた合唱とオーケストラのための大作。初演が失敗しその後も顧みられることが少ないままとなっていますが、傑作「惑星」を予感させるような神秘的でドラマティックな隠れた名作の1つです。
ブラームスの「ドイツ・レクイエム」"英語歌唱版" (DCD 34195)やマルタンの「二重合唱のためのミサ曲」(DCD 34211)の録音で話題を呼んできた名門ロンドン・キングズ・カレッジ合唱団による「雲の使者」は、2015年から音楽監督を務めるジョゼフ・フォートの編曲による室内楽伴奏版。決定盤として名高いヒコックス盤(CHAN 241-6/1990年録音)以来となる、新たな「雲の使者」の名盤として期待がかかります。
東京エムプラス

Gustav Holsts The Cloud Messenger, Op. 30, of 1913, is all but forgotten. A giant choral-orchestral setting of an epic Sanskrit love poem, the work was, in Holsts mind, to be a major expansion of the music on Indian subjects he had been pursuing since the first years of the century. Unfortunately, the premiere was sunk by a ghastly error (no semi-choir was provided, and the singers attempted to sight-read the music, with predictably disastrous results), and the work fell out of the repertory, eclipsed by more modernist concepts. Even today, its a substantial budgetary undertaking for even the big British choirs Holst imagined. Hence this chamber arrangement for 15 players by Joseph Fort: the idea is to revive the work, which is doubtless interesting. The piece, unlike some others by Holst of the period, doesnt include much reference to actual Indian music, but it does have an attractively romantic-mystical atmosphere that survives the reduction in forces. The tale recounts the efforts of a king to have a cloud take a message to his wife in the Himalayan mountains. The paean to marital love was a bit out of fashion in the year of The Rite of Spring, but Holsts airy score, coming to rest in quiet ecstasy at the end, reflects the ancient text well. The Choir of Kings College London and the Strand Ensemble achieve the right transparent texture, and the choir also does well with the encore, the Five Partsongs, Op. 12, also of a romantic nature. Certainly of interest to Holst buffs, this album will also attract those exploring the question of India in the British cultural mind.