Holst - In the Bleak Midwinter [DVD] [NTSC]

This is a generous, if perhaps, overlong tribute to a 20th century British composer who has suffered from being inexorably associated with one particular work - The Planets Suite, the most recorded of all British symphonic works. Tony Palmer's film, like that of his portrait of Ralph Vaughan Williams 'O Thou Transcendent', delves deeply into its subject, although the paucity of information about Holst's private life is a little puzzling. The suitability and use of some of the material is open to question : for example the intercutting of Saturn from The Planets with disturbing images of concentration camp victims, and the scenes in India, which do not really match the accompanying music. But there is much to admire : some marvellous archive footage, the contribution by the composer's daughter Imogen, herself a distinguished musician, critic Stephen Johnson's doughty advocacy of The Planets, and so on. The film leaves one admiring anew an artist of courage and determination in the face of persistent poor health and one whose often beautiful and striking music deserves to be better known.

Tony Palmer's "In the Bleak Midwinter" (named after Rossetti's famous carol) is a full-length portrait of the English composer Gustav Holst (who supplied the melody). It is clearly modelled on Palmer's earlier portrait of Vaughan Williams ("O Thou Transcendent"); indeed, the two composers were lifelong friends. The same conductors (Tamas Vasary and Sian Edwards) are used, along with comments from the same music critic Stephen Johnson, and the back-lighting technique used in the orchestral sequences is also similar, as are the images of the English landscape and of human suffering - so these documentaries can perhaps be regarded as a pair. Of the various people interviewed (including Holst's biographer, and an ex-pupil of his from St. Paul's Girls' School where he taught for thirty years), undoubtedly the most valuable insights come from Holst's daughter, Imogen (1907-84), whose musical life and personality was interesting enough to merit a film portrait in their own right. There is a marvellous clip of her conducting one of her father's suites for wind band with her legendary infectious enthusiasm.

Among the features stressed in the film are Holst's workaholic nature despite frequent ill health, his radical socialism, and his desire to open music-making to all classes - something which he achieved with resounding success at Morley College (where he took evening classes after teaching at St. Paul's during the day). Although Holst demanded the highest standards of himself and his fellow professionals, he fully accepted the limitations of amateur musicians, and was tireless in encouraging their efforts. Something is made, too, of his eclecticism - his interest in astrology and in Eastern religions - even to the extent of teaching himself Sanskrit in order to be able to set Hindu texts, such as the Hymns of the Rig Veda, to his own English translation.

Of his musical output, inevitably The Planets takes precedence, although the various examples of how the "big" tune from Jupiter has been used (or abused) over the years - ostensibly to support the contention that Holst eschewed its use for the hymn "I Vow to Thee, My Country" - are rather overdone. On the other hand, Stephen Johnson's elucidation of how striking this work would have sounded to an audience in the 1920s, citing examples from Mars, is fascinating, and the extracts from the piece, played by the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (who?), and passionately conducted by Tamas Vasary, are well done.

There is still plenty of time to visit a range of other works by Holst, including extracts from The Perfect Fool, The Lure, The Cotswold Symphony, Ode to Death, and the setting of Psalm 86, along with one or two folksong arrangements - but nothing, unfortunately, of the Hymn of Jesus, which is surely one of the composer's most striking works.

Does Palmer's portrait of Holst match the one of Vaughan Williams? Not quite, perhaps - but it certainly does not deserve the disdainful remarks it has received in some circles, and the Amazon price is reasonable enough, considering that the film lasts well over two hours. Most people who enjoyed Palmer's "O Thou Transcendent" will, I am sure, enjoy "In the Bleak Midwinter".

A very informative film about Gustav (von) Holst, one of England's greatest composers. I wondered whether there wasn't more to be said about his spiritual beliefs, his interaction with Indian music. A less interesting subject, I feel, than Vaughan Williams - one of the contributors points to Holst's essential modesty. Some of the imagery, from concentration camps and industry, is familiar from other Tony Palmer films: e.g. the Gorecki profile.

I would have been pleased to see and hear more engagement with works such as the Choral Symphony, Savitri, or The Cloud Messenger, and I began to hanker after the kind of fantasy, of flamboyance brought to composer profiling, by Ken Russell. There appears to be an agenda, in the films on Holst and RVW, to point up their populist credentials, their writing for and enduring popularity with amateurs, but a little more emphasis on professional engagement with their music, with big name international metropolitan musicians, would have been nice too.

Lovely footage of Imogen Holst conducting.