HOLST: Humbert Wolfe Songs; Part Songs; The Hymn of Jesus Peter Pears; Imogen Holst; Adrian Boult

An inspired arrangement between Decca and Imogen Holst, led to a series of pioneering recordings of her father Gustave Holst’s music, which appeared on Argo and are now comprehensively released on CD as part of the Eloquence series. This collection opens with the Pears/Britten recording of a substantial English song cycle never before published on CD, the twelve Humbert Wolfe settings, beautifully sung and mercurially played. Wolfe, largely forgotten today, ‘was a civil servant, essentially a Londoner, and a miniaturist with an individual brand of whimsy and, at his best, a real feeling for words’ (Gramophone). Imogen Holst’s original notes for the LPs – ‘acutely perceptive, objective and candid’ noted Gramophone’s reviewer Lionel Salter – are here reprinted as are the full texts. Much of the music was practically unknown at the time of this recording (beautifully captured by legendary Decca engineer Kenneth Wilkinson in London’s Kingsway Hall) and well overdue for publication. The collection is rounded off by Boult’s celebrated 1961 recording of The Hymn of Jesus.

HOLST
Twelve Songs, Op. 48 (Words by Humbert Wolfe)
Sir Peter Pears, tenor
Benjamin Britten, piano

Ave Maria, Op. 9b
Three Welsh Folk Songs
The Song of the Blacksmith
Two Part-Songs
Two Carols
The Purcell Singers
Imogen Holst

The Hymn of Jesus, Op. 37
BBC Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult