Gustav Holst wrote the libretto and music for his opera The Perfect Fool over the years 1918 to 1922. It had its premiere at in London the next year but mystified audiences and has been rarely performed since then. This five-movement suite of introductory ballet music is arranged separately as an Orchestral suite.The ballet music includes dances for the Spirits of Earth Water and Fire and Holst’s music evokes the moods of these beings delightfully.Gustav Holst has earned a place among the most revered of late 19th and early 20th century composers and is best known for his enduring Orchestral suite The Planets.

Ballet-Bernstein’s first composition in the genre Fancy Free composed in 1944 became extremely popular. The story of the ballet is fairly simple and was later reused by Bernstein in On The Town his popular first Broadway musical. The story devised by Jerome Robbins takes place in New York City where three sailors on shore leave meet three girls in a bar who they dance with and end up fighting over. They soon realize they were foolish to let the women become between their friendships.The music is based on a considerable number of popular styles of the day. At the beginning you hear Big Stuff a popular hit Bernstein later recordedas a single and made famous by Billie Holiday. Bernstein’s music is comprised of a fusion of different genres from Latin-American to Popular and Classical to Jazz all of which are footprints in his inimitable style.Available here as part of the Hawkes Pocket Score edition (No.1135) is the Study Score for Bernstein’s popular ballet Fancy Free.