The Holsts: Father and Daughter

The Holsts: Father and Daughter

Sinfonia Viva
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Alice Farnham conductor
Julian Wilkins chorus director

Elgar Introduction & Allegro for Strings
Gustav Holst St. Paul’s Suite
Imogen Holst Variations on Loth to Depart
Imogen Holst Allegro Assai
Britten Simple Symphony
Imogen Holst Festival Anthem

Join us for a celebration of the musical legacy of the Holst family – both Gustav and his exceptionally talented and influential daughter, Imogen.

Imogen worked with Benjamin Britten to establish the longstanding Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk alongside her distinguished composing career. Tonight’s highlights are the folk and baroque–inspired Variations on Loth to Depart and the spectacular but rarely heard Festival Anthem, performed with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir.

From Gustav we have his St Paul’s Suite. Like Imogen’s Variations on Loth to Depart it’s based on English folk music, but it’s much more boisterous and dense – like the musical equivalent of eating a chocolate cake.

Topping off this evening of English string music we have music by Elgar and Britten, including the Playful Pizzicato from Britten’s Simple Symphony, with its ‘dum ti dum ti dum ti dum’ rhythm notably reminiscent of the theme music to The Archers.

Conductor Alice Farnham has long championed Imogen Holst. She recorded all the Imogen Holst pieces you’ll hear in this concert on the album Discovering Imogen with the BBC Concert Orchestra – so if you want to ‘try before you buy’, go and have a listen.

The performance of Festival Anthem is made possible with funding from the ABO Trust’s Sirens programme, a ten-year initiative to support the performance and promotion of music by historical women composers.

Running time approx. two hours including interval