Imogen Holst: Discovering Imogen

Though acclaimed in her lifetime for superbly crafted works for small ensembles, Imogen Holst (1907-84)—daughter of Gustav Holst, the composer of The Planets—became notoriously evasive when asked about her own music. This album includes several substantial works never previously performed, let alone recorded. But first, Imogen Holst’s ear for orchestration is showcased by Persephone, a work first conducted by Malcolm Sargent in 1929 while she was a student at London’s Royal College of Music. Its vibrant colours and atmosphere, vividly realized here by the BBC Concert Orchestra under conductor Alice Farnham, show Debussy and Ravel’s influence, yet you may hear how Imogen Holst had learnt the French composers’ trick of suggesting a lot through very sparing use of instrumental colour. The dense-sounding string textures of Variations on Loth to Depart (1962), written for a mix of amateur and proficient players, includes welcome touches of humour, particularly in some incongruous jollity heard above the solemn passacaglia bassline in Variation V (track 7). Two choral works composed in the 1940s, What Man is He? and a Festival Anthem, were never even performed before being recorded for this album. These relatively sombre, even austere works are sung empathetically by the BBC Singers. Between those come two works for string orchestra, and the short pastoral for small orchestra On Westhall Hill, written apparently in tender memory of Imogen Holst’s recently deceased father, and given a memorably haunting account by Farnham and her musicians.