EMR CD099–100 | DETAILS
EMR CD099–100

Gustav Holst: SITA

Saarländisches Staatsorchester; Opern- und Extrachor des Saarländisches Staatstheaters; Stefan Neubert (musical director)

Clara-Sophie Bertram (mezzo-sop.); Peter Schöne (bar.); Algirdas Drevinskas (ten.); Judith Braun (mezzo-sop.); Markus Jaursch (bass); Lea-Ann Dunbar (sop.); Stefan Röttig (bar.)

EAN 5 060263 500933

Gustav Holst ⁠— ⁠along with Elgar, Britten and Vaughan Williams ⁠— ⁠is one of the most famous and best-loved of British composers and his “Planets” suite is one of the greatest orchestral works written in the twentieth century. It therefore almost beggars belief that “Sita”, Holst’s operatic masterpiece and the largest-scale work he ever composed, had not been published, recorded or even performed until 2024.

All that changed when a German opera company ⁠— ⁠the Saarländisches Staatstheater ⁠— ⁠undertook the mammoth task of transcribing and setting the manuscript and staging the work; and we at EM Records are absolutely delighted and proud to announce the World Première recording of this magnificent and captivating work, in collaboration with the Staatstheater.

“Sita” took Holst seven years to compose, from 1899 to 1906, and is a substantial three-act opera based on the Hindu epic “The Ramayana”, telling the dramatic story of Sita’s abduction by the Demon King Ravana and the heroic efforts of Rama and his brother Lakshman to defeat the demon army and rescue her. While showing influences of Wagner and even, at times, Verdi and Mahler, it nevertheless has distinctively Holstian fingerprints, with tantalising foreshadowings of “The Planets”, and it is a deeply moving and thrilling opera of immense beauty, poignancy and tenderness.

Track Listing and Audio Extracts
CD 1
Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
“SITA” (World Première recording)
1.
Prologue
2.
“Vishnu, Preserver”
3.
ACT I
4.
“Again they come”
5.
“Lakshman, where art thou?”
6.
“Now do I send thee”
7.
“Hail, Rama”
8.
“Ha! On the rocks”
9.
“Ha! Who art thou shining above me?”
10.
“Rama!” “Who art thou?”
11.
“Ravana, brother!”
12.
ACT II
13.
“Maritcha, a song!”
14.
“Hold! I bring news.”
15.
“Knowest thou him…”
16.
“Hail the Sun’s uprising”
17.
“Greeting, my brother”
18.
“See, Rama: a wondrous fawn!”
CD2
1.
ACT II (conclusion)
“Clearer grew the grinning faces”
2.
“Gentle lady, fain would I rest here awhile.”
3.
“Nay, no more of him.”
4.
“Darkness dire”
5.
ACT III
6.
“Across the silent mountains”
7.
“Rama!” “Who art thou?”
8.
“Why did I tell him?”
9.
“Lakshman, thou art right”
10.
“Sita, Sita, awake.”
11.
“Work away, comrades”
12.
“Work away, Rama.”
13.
“Hail, cowardly Raksha king.”
14.
“Rama, dost thou not know me?”
15.
“Thus the false ones perish before me.”
16.
“Thou dost call me Great”
REVIEWS
Beautifully shaped by Benjamin Frith... Beguiling sounds, graced by the tawny richness and unexaggerated line of Richard Jenkinson’s cello playing... The sense of purpose and sureness of line of Ian Venables’ music is pure oxygen.
EMR CD31 | BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Exquisitely rewarding... Ravishing accounts.
EMR CD029 | CHOIR AND ORGAN
This is music of great beauty and integrity and the performances fully do it justice. It would be criminal to let it pass you by.

EMR CD028 | INTERNATIONAL
RECORD REVIEW

The Bridge Quartet approach these pieces with a sympathetic and insightful warmth, and confirm their ambassadorial credentials for British chamber music. A lovely, radiant disc.
EMR CD025 | Gramophone
Duncan Honeybourne’s playing is astonishingly affectionate, yet never saccharine... Honeybourne plays with suave confidence.
EMR CD024 | INTERNATIONAL PIANO
Rupert Marshall-Luck is an ideal interpreter: generously but not effusively lyrical; agile and athletic... The warm, folk-song like slow movement is at times almost painfully beautiful, with a shimmering pastoral central section... Marshall-Luck is, again, indefatigable and keenly picks up on the work’s melancholic strain.  Finely recorded and with comprehensive booklet notes, this is a must for fans of 20th-century English repertoire.
EMR CD023 | THE STRAD