Steve Schwartz wrote:

>One-Hit Wonder implies a composer who wrote one good piece or a piece
>that is SO much better than the rest of his output.

Pardon me, but it implies nothing of the kind.  It is ordinarily intended
to described a composer with one conspicuously POPULAR work ("one-hit,"
get it?) and doesn't call the quality of all other works into question.
So despite the CD availability of most of his output, Holst remains a
one-hit wonder for "The Planets." The rest is esoterica, comparatively
speaking.  And the rest, I'm inclined to think, is better music than
":The Planets," which has aspects of freakishness and monstrosity not
typical of Holst.  For the sake of argument, I'd call the following
figures one-hit wonders: Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Glazunov, Bruch.  I'm
sure you will all have your own candidates.

cheers
John Wiser
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