Paul Silverthorne responds to my grousing about the growing "Planets":

>>Can't modern composers come up with their own original works and
>>refrain from adulterating works which already exist?...
>
>To be fair to Colin Matthews, I think it is the case that he was
>commissioned to write 'Pluto'; if I remember corrently by Kent Nagano
>for the Halle Orchestra.

Well, a commission doesn't change the fact that Matthews wasn't ordered
at gun-point to write 'Pluto'; I've been offered many opportunities for
real estate commissions which I turned down for varied reasons.  The
process is voluntary.  I don't mean to speak poorly of Matthews, but his
additional movement to The Planets is not quite the same as a transcription
of a work.  What he has done will result in an extension of Holst's work by
someone other than Holst.  I have very fond memories of The Planets from my
childhood days, and it pisses me off that other humans just can't seem to
keep their grubby hands off the composition.

Did Kent Nagano come up with the idea of adding a movement to The Planets?
If so, I can't understand how such a thought would have entered his head.
Obviously, our knowledge of the Universe is much greater now than when
Holst lived.  If that increased knowledge leads artists to want to express
the differential in a musical composition, they can start from scratch and
create their very own works instead of attaching themselves to a work
already on the books.

Actually, the only time this subject bothers me is when I see a big
advertisement in a magazine with the "Matthews" name next to Holst's.
Matthews hasn't earned this association; he just weaseled his way into it.

Don Satz
[log in to unmask]