In conjunction with the release of Faber Music's new facsimile score of The Planets, composer Colin Matthews talks about Holst's iconic orchestral suite, editing the facsimile, and his collaboration with Holst's daughter Imogen. Read the full interview below.

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The Planets has such a broad popular appeal, reaching far beyond the usual classical music listener. Why do you think it is given more recognition than other compositions by Holst?

Holst himself was disconcerted by the work’s popularity, but there’s no question that it stands out from the rest of his music, which can sometimes be rather austere and introverted. If it had retained its original title of ’Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra’ it would perhaps have attracted less attention - everybody is fascinated by planets (and to a lesser extent, astrology). And whereas Holst often composed relatively short pieces, or movements, there is no other work of his where he strung together music of such diversity on such a large scale: the invention that he displays in these ‘seven pieces’ is outstanding. There is nothing else quite like it. It’s unfair to think of him as a ‘one work composer’, but in no other work did he write music of such immediate appeal.

What was the biggest discovery or surprise you came across whilst editing the facsimile?

I knew that he had needed a lot of help in writing out the manuscript because of the neuritis in his right arm, but not the extent of it. It must have been a difficult process. And I was previously unaware that no sketches for the work survive, so that it’s impossible to trace how it developed. Perhaps the most surprising thing was to find that in the two piano score of Mars his metronome mark is even faster than his own two recordings, which are often thought to be faster than they should be because of the need to fit the music onto a 78 rpm disc.

Could you talk about the involvement of Imogen Holst and your collaboration with her on the facsimile?

The idea of facsimile editions was hers, and for each of them she wrote an extended introduction. I had been working with her since 1972 on the Thematic Catalogue of Holst’s music that was published for Holst’s centenary in 1974. So it was natural that I would work with her on the facsimiles, and I took an increasingly larger role in them. But she oversaw the project, and nothing was done without her full approval.

Our collaboration on the four volumes of facsimiles was a high point in our working together. Starting in 1974 with the operas Savitri and The Wandering Scholar we continued with works for small orchestra (including the St Paul's Suite), and then The Planets. What proved to be the final volume was the First Choral Symphony, at which point the cost of the project meant that we couldn't continue on works for larger orchestra, although our preliminary work on Egdon Heath and Beni Mora allowed for new editions: this had also been the case with several of the works whose manuscripts we had studied for the earlier volumes, and of course with The Planets.

You have of course composed your own planetary composition, 'Pluto': as a composer yourself, what do you think are the most fascinating aspects of the Planets? Is there a particular passage which highlights Holst's compositional talents best?

There are a lot of technical aspects of The Planets that are intriguing to a composer - Holst’s use of irregular time signatures and of bitonality (two keys at once) for instance. If I had to single out one movement above the others I would choose Saturn, which is very characteristic and individual - the slow processional, the forceful outburst in the middle, and the dreamlike ending. It’s quintessential Holst. But the most original movement is Neptune - remote, pianissimo throughout, and fading away into nothing. It took a lot of persuading for me to agree to continue from that ending with Pluto!

Can you tell me more about composing 'Pluto'?

The only possible way to carry on from where Neptune leaves off is not to make a break at all, and so Pluto begins before Neptune has quite faded. And it is very fast - faster even than Mercury: solar winds were my starting point. The movement soon took on an identity of its own, following a path which I seemed to be simply allowing to proceed as it would: in the process I came perhaps closer to Holst than I had expected, although at no point did I think to write pastiche. At the end the music disappears, almost as if Neptune had been quietly continuing in the background. I dedicated Pluto to the memory of Imogen Holst, with whom I worked for many years until her death in 1984, and who I suspect would have been both amused and dismayed by this venture.

What is the most memorable performance of the planets you have ever heard or witnessed?

The performance of The Planets with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Edward Gardner at the 2016 Proms was enthralling - the commitment of these young players is always such a special thing to see and hear. That performance included Pluto, which I had rehearsed with them and which they played with amazing virtuosity (although their Chandos recording omits it). I’m always reluctant  if I’m asked to take a bow after Pluto as only Holst deserves the bow - Pluto wouldn’t exist if it were not for his music. And I was initially reluctant to take it on as a project. In 1999 Kent Nagano, then principal conductor of the Hallé, made a lot of effort to persuade me, although I balked at his suggestion of prefacing The Planets with a movement for Earth. I was very nervous about the first performance, which had attracted a lot of publicity, but in the event it proved to be a success, with over 120 performances to date. Far fewer subsequent to Pluto’s demotion to a dwarf planet in 2006, which was particularly grating when we saw the extraordinary images captured by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.