And Tchaikovsky wrote music for fairy tales — often very funny. Not all Russians are depressed and depressing.

I’ve heard of the Brahms cylinder recording – most composers/musicians refrained from actually recording music on the earliest cylinders because of the terrible playback quality (the same reason Vaclav Nijinsky refused to allow anyone to film him dancing). The addition of a motorized crankshaft for steady recording & playback speed improved the sound a bit, but it was still poor and it was some time before a means of reproducing recordings was developed (prior to that, each recording was one-of-a-kind). As for Holst’s “Planets,” although I have a CD of David Nettle & Richard Markham playing the 2-piano version, I didn’t know that Holst & friend had made such a recording as well. I did hear a CD of an orchestral performance, though, with Holst conducting. It was from a set of wax records kept in an archive. As can be expected, the sound quality is not what we’re used to, but it’s great to hear nonetheless.

As for Tchaikovsky’s temperament – he was one of the most depressed individuals ever, when he felt depressed. But he wasn’t like that all the time, or he’d never have gotten anything done. He had quite a few friends, and enjoyed games, jokes & bets. The pas de deux from Act 2 of “Nutcracker”? a friend bet that, although the scale is the basis of Western music, a melody could not be written that consisted of merely a scale. Tchaikovsky said, “Ascending or descending?” and soon won the bet with the pas de deux.

You don’t have to be the composer, but if y’are are it counts double. Like the ‘Director’s cut’ of any film, eh?

PS:
I have also heard a piano roll where one of the two pianists is Holst doing the “Planets Suite”. Have you heard the two pionos version of “The Planets”?. Only Jupiter (which is ENORMOUS) and Uranus (which has one bit which goes BANG!) is different. Saturn (which Holst thought was the best thing he ever wrote) is creepily similar,