William Steinberg – The Disciplined Maestro Conductor

William Steinberg is one of the understated conductors of the 20th century,, known principally nowadays for an outstanding version of The Planets he recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon in 1970. Of the non-English interpretations of the piece it stands as a remarkable achievement, and his understanding of the music and orchestration almost without parallel.

So it comes as a welcome change to be talking about the conductor's other achievements, with a substantial body of recorded work for EMI that has just been remastered and released in a box of 20 CDs, much of it made available for the first time. It explores Steinberg's relationship with another American orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, begun in the early 1950s and maintained for nigh on 20 years.

The revealing booklet note, penned by Mark Kluge, reveals Steinberg as a relatively introverted soul, yet one who had the ultimate respect of his orchestra, as they regularly played their hearts out for him and formed a strong reputation of their own. Steinberg gained a reputation as someone who concentrated on the music alone, which sounds an obvious point to make, but where a lot of conductors of that time sought to impose their own personalities on the music, it is a value that Steinberg should communicate the music in a very human way.

As a result his Beethoven speaks very directly, and is helped on this set by recordings that are impressively clear despite their age of almost 60 years. The Eroica is lean and muscular, the Eighth is performed with a smile and the Violin Concerto and Emperor match their soloists Nathan Milstein and Rudolf Firkusny respectively. Milstein's sweet tone is an ideal complement to the orchestra’s earthy sound in concertos from Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Glazunov, while the forthright Firkusny teams up for a magisterial account of Brahms' First Piano Concerto.

Two of Steinberg's favourite composers, the Richards Strauss and Wagner, are well represented, the former by sparkling renditions of Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel, the latter in a disc of finely judged operatic excerpts. Earlier recordings of classical works also feature, with early 1950s Schubert, Haydn and Mozart performed in a 'big band' style that nevertheless allows plenty of room for grace. Mahler's daughter expressed her preference for Steinberg's account of the First Symphony over Bruno Walter – and here we get to find out why, with an exuberant reading full of lust for life, the composer's sense of the outdoors fully realised.

Steinberg, as is evident from his Planets recording, held great affinity with English music, and tucked away in this set are unusual recordings of Vaughan Williams' Five Tudor Portraits and the Tallis Fantasia, not to mention an account of Elgar's Enigma Variations. Another composer Steinberg went against the grain to champion was Paul Hindemith, and though his best recordings remain for DG the version of the Mathis der Maler symphony here is a treat. Bloch's punchy Concerto Grosso no.1 and Toch’s experimental Third Symphony are other standout points.

It is completely fitting, then, that a conductor respected by Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwangler and Leonard Bernstein should finally get his own chance to shine, proper recognition at last for one of the 20th century's finest and most reverential conductors.

Under the fence - ten lesser known lights of 2011

By now it's saturation time in the album of the year polls, with every music website and magazine putting out a top 10, top 50, top 100 even – and quite rightly so. It always makes you realise just how much music there is out there – and thankfully, in the case of this year, an incredible amount of good quality music. I wanted to take the chance to highlight some records – both pop and classical – that I feel have missed out on the jamboree for one reason or another. So here, from all genres, are 10 albums that have made an impact on my musical life for one reason or another in 2011.

No single song captured the mood of the riots and student demonstrations better than British Sea Power's 'Who's In Control'. "I wish protesting was sexy on a Saturday night!" hollers Yan Scott Wilkinson – well soon it was, in Trafalgar Square no less. But this three minute piece of latent anger was followed by some truly wonderful songs on British Sea Power’s fourth album 'Valhalla Dancehall', with the melting centre of 'Georgie Ray', the breezy 'Living Is So Easy' and the moody landscape of 'We Are Sound' all memorable moments on an emotionally powerful album.

With all the bad news came the need to seek out some fun - and for riotous off the wall japes and capers, Mungolian Jet Set's 'Schlungs' proved hard to beat. The spectres of George Clinton and Sly & The Family Stone hang over this album, but the two Norwegians Pål 'Strangefruit' Nyhus and Knut Sævik add their own quirks and musical touches, ensuring happiness, wackiness and an abundance of good tunes are the order of the day. We Are The Shining has a classic house beat, but it's the mischievous Moon Jocks 'n' Prog Rocks that really wins the day. Cosmic, maaaan.
Daedelus' 'Bespoke' was pretty far out, too. Imagine Prince's Purple Rain diffused through a musical prism and you get the uncommonly emotional 'In Tatters', a beautiful and moving slow song on an album brimful of energy and invention. On the other, more energetic side of things you get the blissful 'Tailor-Made' and the frankly remarkable 'What Can You Do', standing left of field with a talent for beat making that has clearly been stepped up a notch. A record high on life.

It's been a good year to be cosmic as it goes, and Mickey Moonlight occupied a space that was pretty out there with his recent album release 'Mickey Moonlight And The Time Axis Manipulation Corporation'. The title says it all really - but the communal singing of 'This Son Is Coming Up' and the deep house of 'Close To Everything - both featuring the superb George Lewis Jr - bring an added dash of soul.

With very little fanfare Bibio has now notched up four extremely fine albums, and he is fast becoming an integral part of the Warp stable. 'Mind Bokeh' was occasionally a mind bender, but made intelligent use of acoustic instruments among its electronic chatter. It also boasted a fine piece of funk in 'K is for Kelson' - imagine the theme to Starsky and Hutch processed for a modern dancefloor! It showed a sense of humour among the clever beats.

Two artists who showed great ambition in their new albums this year were M83 and Tori Amos, and their efforts went largely unrewarded in the polls. As a coincidence I interviewed them both for musicOMH.com this year, and was left in awe of their musical scope and ambition. Anthony Gonzalez wrote much of M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming in the Mojave desert, completing a mind bending opus of space and pure euphoria as he remembered his youth. Not only that, but with 'Midnight City' he had the year's best track bar none. Amos, on the other hand, took a leap into the unknown to take on classical music at its own game. That she produced a 75-minute song cycle with hardly a dip in emotional intensity says exactly how much she took from discovering the music of Schubert in particular. The lyrics and story may be relatively tricky to keep hold of, but the music is enchanting and winsome. A modern take on Winterreise that is not found wanting – with more to come in this sphere, hopefully.

While we're on classical, a word on Hindemith, who still suffers an almost constant state of neglect in the face of some highly attractive music. Lawrence Power completed his series of the works for viola for Hyperion this year, and the works for Hindemith's principal instrument and orchestra were revealed in their full glory with rich colours and harmonies, bittersweet melodies and excellent performances. Definitely one to seek out.

Meanwhile the thoughtful folk of the Eloquence label have delved around for a large supply of previously unavailable Holst recordings, originally made by Decca. These are invaluable historical documents, including performances by Sir Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten (the Humbert Wolfe settings, some of which are truly odd!), a unique take on The Planets from Bernard Herrmann, the leading version of Holst's bewitching opera 'Savitri' and some wonderful choral songs, conducted by the composer's daughter Imogen. Four discs, at a tenner each - well worth investing in one or two at the very least, to discover more of a composer far more cosmopolitan than your average English composer.

Back to pop for the last two in the list - and Wolf Gang's 'Suego Faults' reveals itself to be a highly inventive piece of rock looking towards David Byrne and the Velvet Undergrond for inspiration. The sheer confidence of these songs is infectious, and singer Max McElligott delivers them with a swagger that brings MGMT to mind, the music not afraid to take some risks.

Finally another confident band, the Texans Okkervil River - whose music invites comparisons with Arcade Fire through its poise, energy and drive. In this year's I Am Very Far they have created something powerful and invigorating, writing energetic songs that still have that wonderful folky edge to set them apart, with Will Sheff's vocals for individuality.

So there you are - hope there's something to tickle your fancy in that little lot. 2011 has been a very strong year for music beneath the surface, and let's hope 2012 does the same or even better!

Gustav Holst as seen in Dalston

Gustav Holst is still an undervalued contributor to English classical music. The Planets remains, quite rightly, one of the 20th century's most popular scores, strongly descriptive and illustrative of how it was possible to incorporate English flavoured folk tunes and some of Stravinsky's more acerbic approaches to harmony and orchestration.

Yet many of Holst's orchestral and vocal works languish relatively unheard, despite a rich discography that includes special performances from the likes of Benjamin Britten, Sir Adrian Boult, Yehudi Menuhin and Richard Hickox. Some of these have been made available again on the Eloquence label, which I shall be covering on this site shortly, and there is a fine documentary now available from Tony Palmer, which was broadcast on BBC4 in April and now available on DVD.

Now Grimeborn, the enterprising two-week chamber opera festival, should be applauded for bringing two of Holst's intriguing small scale stage works in from the sidelines. The charming Arcola Theatre in Dalston proved an ideal sized venue on Saturday night for performances of Savitri and The Wandering Scholar, with Daisy Evans' direction making the most of a space incorporating its audience on three of the four sides, the stage in the middle, in front of the small orchestra pit.

The first half brought us the story of one of Holst's unusual Sanskrit-themed works. This is the Hindu legend from the Mahabharata, where Savitri, the widow of Satyavan, appeals to Yama, the lord of death, for his return. The opera is meant to be performed outside, but here in the early evening the light was just right for Evans to successfully evoke that feeling.

Savitri lasts half an hour and is a taut, deeply felt utterance, the music tense throughout. The plot itself was not always easy to follow in this performance, with some words missed as the singers had to turn around on stage, but the emotion was clearly there from Jenny Stafford's pleas in the title role. Edward Ballard as Death was impressive, too, starting the opera with a folk-inflected melodic line that reminded us just how well Holst could write for unaccompanied voice, while Alex Berman had the measure of the ill-fated Satyavan. The chorus sang in a style predating the wordless music at the end of Neptune in The Planets.

The music was striking throughout, in fact, with Holst choosing a chamber orchestra of 16 to accompany his three vocalists. The instrumental colours were beautifully realised, especially the lean single double bass line that gave a feeling of foreboding whenever it was left on its own, and some of the more graceful wind writing up top was well played too by the members of The Little Opera Company. All three vocalists were fine, and Stafford's closing vocalise mirrored Death's opening, giving an essential bit of hope at the end of a pretty dark story. Colourful costumes helped lighten the mood, too, and Evans' use of two expressive sprites hanging on Death’s every word lent a ghoulish edge.

This proved chalk to the cheese of the second half, which was The Wandering Scholar, Holst's last stage work from 1932 and as English as they come. Here was a precursor to the Carry On films, in the shape of a full figured soprano (Stafford, again) gamely fighting off the affections of a lecherous priest (insert) while the Wandering Scholar himself, an open-faced Nick Scott, gradually took centre stage as he revealed the couple’s supposed misdemeanours. There was a lot of slapstick humour here, and Evans did a great job updating the story for the present day. The dog, hilariously played by (insert), read an edition of Nuts while waiting for the opera to start, scratching himself where he shouldn't, while Stafford, having hidden various props in the audience at the sudden appearance of her husband, commendably kept a straight face as he, Louis (Edward Ballard) hilariously tried to get them back.

Again the music was colourful, vulgar at times, and Imogen Holst's observation that the priest in her father’s opera 'would be short and clammy, would roll gently from side to side as he walks, and that there will be grease stains on his cassock' was totally borne out by the excellent (insert). The tunes were good, the script funny, and, as in the first half, there was next to no musical padding, another observation on the part of Imogen of her father’s ability to keep his music straight and to the point.

A thoroughly invigorating evening, then, with a nicely paired double bill that showed off the talents of those on stage, as well as the ability of Holst to write with flair and originality. Chamber opera established itself in the 20th century, and Holst was certainly one of its first exponents.