A tour of California wine country led to a few weeks off my radio show, but now I’m back. First up is a grape that makes some of the sweetest and the driest of wines and a versatile blending grape as well; Semillon. Next we take a look at what else Gustav Holst composed besides his justly famous Planets Suite. Then we’ll look at the best musicals on film up to 1959 and will follow up on more recent musicals on our future shows. All this on Salon Saturday.
Semillon: an age-worthy grape
The Semillon grape has been used in Sauvignon Blanc blends to soften the herbal elements of the principal grape. It has also been the primary grape used to make exquisite Sauternes that can age for several decades and it has less often been a single varietal as a rich, dry wine with great character. In that mode it expresses flavors of lemon, beeswax, yellow peach with notes of chamomiles and saline.
- Served cold at 45 to 55 degrees F
- Cellar for 5 to 10 years, much more in Sauterne
- France has over 50% under vine in Bordeaux, Southwest and Provence
- Australia has over 15% in Hunter’s Valley, Margaret River, Clare Valley & Barossa
- South Africa, Chile and Argentina come in next
- In the US it is primarily in Napa, Sonoma and Yakima Valley
- Adding Semillon to Sauvignon Blanc practiced in US in 70-80s
In California a number of winemakers blended Semillon into Sauvignon Blanc wines, but as fuller more defined principal grapes came along that technique fell out of favor. Years later, after a wine tasting at Ahlgren Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains I bought a case of their Semillon, which had a few years age on them. The wines were simply astonishing with rich fig-like notes similar to a Sauterne, but without the botrytis infection. It later became a perfect pairing with turkey on Thanksgiving. Sadly Ahlgren closed in 2016 or I’d still be buying their Semillon wines.
Then all traces of the grape seemed to disappear and I found nothing like them in California. I wondered; was it just me that loved this grape? The production of Semillon had declined after WWII. Where once 90% of South Africa was planted with it, now only 1% remains. Chile once boasted 75% of plantings. Other grapes like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc edged them out in some regions. Since few places could induce the botrytis fungus to appear, it was up to the Sauterne and Barsac regions of Bordeaux to satisfy the world’s appetite for these rich, sweet wines.
One place besides Bordeaux where the grape still reigns supreme is Australia’s Hunter Valley where high quality versions can range from $20 to $50 per bottle. A 2018 Tyrrell’s Wines Johnno’s Semillon, Hunter Valley, Australia goes for $134.
The best local source for me is Milagro Vineyards and their latest release is as rich and creamy as any Chardonnay, but with savory crispness. The creamy aspect comes from the surlie procedure, which involves stirring the lees (spent yeast cells, settled contents) to enrich the wine.
For your consideration: Milagro 2021 Semillon, 12.2% ABV, $30
Grown in the Franklin and Gerhart vineyards, the wine is made in a dry and crisp style. Fruit is whole cluster pressed, barrel fermented in neutral French Oak and aged surlie for a short time. It presents aromas of lime & grapefruit, pear and lemon flavors, round texture, pleasing acidity and long finish.
Gustav Holst: The Planets and Beyond:
Gustav Holst is primarily known for his Planet Suite; one of the finest pieces in the orchestral repertoire. But in fact Holst’s output was prolific, as he composed over 200 works. Beyond The Planets lies an extensive back catalogue of works equally as masterful. Gustav Holst was an idiosyncratic composer who drew from a myriad of different artistic influences and cultures. His music even ventured into experimental territory: he was one of the first English composers whose musical language included modernist stylistic techniques such as polytonality and irregular polyrhythms.
Note: some of this content came from udiscovermusic.com written by Alice Benton.
Background
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed many other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.
Holst pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Unable to support himself by his compositions, he played the trombone professionally and later became a teacher—a great one, according to his colleague Ralph Vaughan Williams.
- He built a strong tradition of performance at Morley College as musical director (1907 – 1924)
- He pioneered music education for women at St Paul’s Girls’ School, (1905 – 1934)
- He was the founder of the Whitsun music festivals (1916 – 1934)
The best of anything is usually very subjective, particularly since we perceive music emotionally before we begin to analyze it and we hold it closer the more we hear it. Holst’s The Planets is so stunning his other music moves to the background. Here we are placing it back in the foreground.
Symphony in F Major ‘The Cotswolds’ (1900)
Holst’s first major orchestral work is a tribute to the beautiful English countryside. Nicknamed “The Cotswolds,” where Holst lived from the age of 20, this symphony is warm and luxurious, bringing to life the beautiful pastoral landscape. The second movement is an elegy, dedicated to William Morris, an influence on Holst who had recently passed away. Holst was truly inspired by the idealist, utopian teachings of Morris, and “The Cotswolds” score exudes optimism through its buoyant rhythms and joyful lilting melodies.
In The Bleak Midwinter (1906)
Holst’s beautiful arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter has become a stalwart in the English Christmas songbook. The simple, charming melody has a warm, joyful feeling to it, with an underlying sense of nostalgia that complements the text perfectly. Holst’s music frames and enriches the famous poem by Christina Rossetti, creating a sense of stillness, meditation, and contemplation. The universality of the melody means that, in any arrangement, this carol is always a showstopper. Atmospheric, poignant, and above all nostalgic, Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter is one the highlights of the Christmas repertoire.
The Cloud Messenger, Op. 30 (1910)
Holst drew artistic influence from many areas and The Cloud Messenger, demonstrates this perfectly. This colossal choral and orchestral work took Holst seven years to complete and sets the words of Meghadūta by the Sanskrit poet, Kālidāsa. Holst was fascinated by Indian culture; musicologist Nalini Ghuman traced much of Holst’s compositional style, including The Hymn of Jesus, The Planet Suite, and The Cloud Messenger, back to Indian music. The Cloud Messenger’s musical orientalism uses irregular frantic rhythms not dissimilar from those later used by Stravinsky in The Rite of Spring.
Beni Mora Suite (1912)
Beni Mora, a three-movement piece for orchestra, is an early foray into musical exoticism and orientalism. Holst’s compositional style is imbued with the music and sounds he heard during his travels around Algeria in 1908. The highly rhythmic and spritely dances of Beni Mora have a buoyant, lilting quality, contrasted with ominous, atmospheric sections. The exotic influences shine through in the composer’s use of bombastic percussion, dark timbres of bassoon, timpani, and flute, and small repetitive themes.
The Hymn of Jesus, Op. 37 (1917)
The Hymn of Jesus is thought to be Holst’s response to the First World War: Holst explores ideas of conflict, loss, and suffering through a large-scale setting of a hymn, thought by Gnostics to have been sung by Christ and his disciples at the Last Supper. The powerful score is based on two medieval plainchants and the required performing forces are vast, including two mixed choruses that Holst insisted to be “well separated” from each other. This physical distance between choirs and orchestra is an immersive, haunting sound that sometimes borders on the otherworldly.
St Paul’s Suite, Op. 29, No. 2 (1922)
Holst drew upon musical influences at home as well as abroad. St Paul’s Suite, was the first piece he composed as Musical Director at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith. This is a wonderful example of Holst as an English neo-nationalist composer; an homage to English folk music. The St Paul’s Suite begins with an animated “Jig” and ends with a “Dargasson,” another English dance, interwoven with the famous Tudor song “Greensleeves.”
I recently listened to it again and the lilting airs that infuse the work conjure images of fecund fields and rustling leaves in a pastoral setting.
Egdon Heath, Op. 47 (1929)
In the tone poem Egdon Heath, Holst explores the dark pastoral genre. In stark contrast to the joyful musical characterization of “The Cotswolds” Symphony, Egdon Heath, is a shadowy, austere piece. Subtitled “A Homage to Thomas Hardy,” the score paints the bleak, desolate picture of Hardy’s invented landscape. Holst’s compositional style verges on neo-classical territory, venturing into obscure, almost atonal regions with thick, dense verges of strings.
The Planets, Op. 729 (1918)
As impressive and extensive as Holst’s back catalogue is the Planet Suite overshadows all of them. Music and astrology collide in this wonderfully characterful piece, with each movement dedicated to a planet. This amazing score borders on the divine, alternating between the dramatic violence of Mars, the Bringer of War to the sweeping romanticism of Venus, the Bringer of Peace, and the rousing Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, later used for the hymn “I Vow to Thee My Country.” The Planets was a watershed moment for Holst, for whom it not only opened the creative floodgates but combined two of his greatest passions: music and astrology.
Holst’s memorial plaque at Chichester Cathedral reads: “The Heavenly Spheres Make Music for Us.”
The Best Musicals on Film
The popularity of musicals has waxed and waned from the early beginnings in the 1930s to the present. While Broadway has been the steeping pot for many musicals turned into film, there has also been innovation within Hollywood to produce original works. For this list I’m not including the subgenre of animated musicals or the list would be too long. I’m also saving the later musicals after 1959 for another show or two. It’s so hard to just pick ten. Actually I cheated and picked fourteen but who’s counting?
Musicals in 1930-1959 Broadway and Beyond
Many older viewers will recall the B & W movies of this era when dancers and singers shared the stage. Astaire and Rodgers was a heavenly pair and Busby Berkley’s dazzling choreography also received a lot of attention.
“42nd Street” (Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
There are few visual pleasures more satisfying than Busby Berkeley’s choreography. In “42nd Street,” opulence, precision, and unadulterated joy ripple out like the concentric circles of ribbon dancers spinning wildly onscreen. Credited with kicking off the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals, was vaudeville actor-turned-director Lloyd Bacon. The movie’s hummable tunes include Shuffle Off to Buffalo, You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the exuberant 42nd Street.
Swing Time” (George Stevens, 1936)
One of the best-directed films in the Astaire-Rogers RKO canon. With help from composer Jerome Kern and choreographer Hermes Pan, director George Stevens employed the usual romantic misunderstandings but married them to perfect song-and-dance numbers. They include Never Gonna Dance and the Oscar-winning The Way You Look Tonight. Katharine Hepburn famously said of Astaire-Rogers: “He gives her class. She gives him sex.”
Top Hat” (Mark Sandrich, 1935)
The year before Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did Swing Time, came Top Hat, which many consider the high point of their work together. While all their films feature stellar dancing, “Top Hat” gets bonus points for holding up as a legitimately excellent comedy of the screwball type.
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
As iconic musicals go, “The Wizard of Oz” is near the top. First, there’s the stunning transformation as the film shifts from monochrome to dazzling Technicolor, which would have entranced the 1939 audiences as much as Garland singing Over the Rainbow. We had to sing that one for our high school graduation, but I like it much better now.
Stormy Weather (Andrew L. Stone, 1943)
Following MGM’s all-Black musical “Cabin in the Sky,” 20th Century Fox’s hoped for the same success and certainly had the great Lena Horne in it. For me Stormy Weather will always be Lena’s. This story, has Black ex-soldier (Bill “Bojangles” Robinson) rising to the top of showbiz in the years after World War I, as a way to showcase its musical numbers.
There are performances by Fats Waller doing his classic Ain’t Misbehavin and Cab Calloway strutting and waving his baton. And finally, to close out the movie, one of the most spellbinding routines ever put on film. That would be the fabulous tap-dancing Nicholas brothers. Just look at the way they’re able to come out of a split without using their hands! Who else can do that?
Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis on the other hand always delights in one of Vincente Minnelli and Arthur Freed’s best musicals for MGM. For some this is a fantasy vision of Americana they’ve only known on screen. Garland sings the holiday classic Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which has also been juxtaposed with despair in movies where things aren’t quite so merry.
Everyone remembers the exuberant Trolley Song, but Mary Astor and Leon Ames sitting at the piano singing You and I is also not to be missed.
The Band Wagon” (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
Just when Fred Astaire was considering retirement, director Vincente Minnelli pulled him back in with MGM producer Arthur Freed’s ultimate backstage musical. And he gave him a seductive and dazzling new partner; Cyd Charisse. The poignant I’ll Go My Way By Myself is followed by a light-hearted revamp That’s Entertainment! Then dancer Cyd Charisse memorably wraps her long legs around Astaire during Dancing in the Dark. If that doesn’t get your heart pumping see a doctor immediately.
Kiss Me Kate (George Sidney, 1953)
This film is about a company of Broadway players who modernize Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” only for the events to take on new meaning in the lives of the performers. And it starts with a bang as legendary tap dancer, Ann Miller jumps on the coffee table of Broadway star Howard Keel to perform the song, Too Darn Hot.
Miller’s rendition of Tom, Dick, or Harry culminates with her shouting “a-dick, a-dick while Howard Keel looks rattled. The censors must have missed that one. Then there is the implored Why Can’t You Behave and the soaring Wunderbar. This is as fun and lively a musical as you’re likely to see that also includes a pre-directing Bob Fosse.
A Star Is Born (George Cukor, 1954)
There are now four versions of “A Star Is Born,” but George Cukor’s 1954 masterpiece stands above William Wellman’s 1937 original, the widely maligned 1976 Barbra Streisand vehicle, and even Bradley Cooper’s beloved re-imagining from just a few years ago.
James Mason plays a Hollywood star who falls in love with Judy Garland and helps make her a star while his career (and alcoholism) rapidly descends. Garland’s voice still soars over the sadness.
Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1954)
The most beloved 12 notes in all of film history have got to be the bouncy refrain of the title song in the most iconic movie musical ever made. There’s nothing Hollywood loves more than a movie about itself, and not only did Singin’ in the Rain set the bar high, it made it celebratory.
Co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen; with the cinematography of Harold Rosson who photographed their vision in gorgeous Technicolor. The winning trio of Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor turned crackling onscreen chemistry into a game for three. O’Connor’s scene-stealing knockout, Make ‘Em Laugh, turned unbelievable physical feats into gut-busting farce.
Kismet ( Vincent Minelli & Stanley Dolan 1955)
Taking the story first employed as a Ronald Coleman and Marlene Dietrich vehicle in 1944 and using the music of James Borodin and the talents of Howard Keel and Ann Blyth we hear Strangers in Paradise, Bubbles, Bangles and Beads and the heart-stopping This is My Beloved. This has always been one of my favorite musicals, combining comedy, exotic settings and glorious songs.
Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957)
Yes Fred Astaire was still kicking up his heels, first with Silk Stockings, again with Cyd as a Russian provocateur and then paired with Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face which remains the greater of the two films he made in 1957. Our eyes barely waver from Audrey in one dazzling outfit after another and with Paris as a backdrop and her ballet-like stride we have a feast for the eyes. However Kelly’s An American in Paris (1951) with Leslie Caron and Gershwin’s music did the same thing for me at least.
Oklahoma (Fred Zinnemann 1955)
Starting with the stirring Oklahoma, which became the state’s theme song, we are conveyed in a Surrey with the Fringe on Top and under a big blue sky hear Oh What a Beautiful Morning and as love blooms, People Will Say We’re in Love. The wonderful Gloria Grahame lets us know why I Can’t Say No and later behind the barn with Gene Nelson proves it. After the excitement with Judd trying to kill Curly, Aunt Eller spots Ado Anne and tells her “you missed all the excitement.” With a lustful smile she replies, “Oh know we didn’t.”
South Pacific (Joshua Logan 1958)
With the lush setting of Kaua’i, this oft-performed musical with Rosanno Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor is always Some Enchanted Evening. I see Bali Ha’i from my balcony every year on vacation and those familiar strains echo with every glance. Mitzi gets all sudsy for I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right out of my hair but it doesn’t seem to take. My wife and I will no doubt go to the Happy Talk lounge again this year. There are so many good memories of this musical, which the island of Kaua’i has taken to its heart.
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