In the fifth century, an Indian poet called on a cloud to bring a message to his wife over the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Gustav Holst discovered the love poem in 1896, the same year in which he met his fiancée Isobel. It was the beginning of his interest in ancient Indian poetry. He even acquired enough knowledge of sanskrit to make translations for his vedic-inspired compositions. Unfortunately,
… The Cloud Messenger never became popular. The premiere in 1913 failed due to bad preparations. After that it was soon over with this kind of sumptuous scores: both the World War and Stravinsky's Le Sacre Du Printemps chopped it up. Even today, the large scale occupation still stands in the way of a revival (although there is the old Chandos recording of Richard Hickox). That's why conductor Joseph Fort tries it here with a chamber music ensemble of fifteen instrumentalists. (HJ)more
