Granta Chorale: Holst in Thaxted

A celebration of Gustav Holst’s musical life in Thaxted featuring his compositions, music that inspired him, and music inspired by him.

We trace Holst’s arrival in Thaxted, his founding of the Whitsun Festival and his later life. From his inaugural Festival programme we sing Bach’s Kyrie in A, along with Kyries by his great friend Vaughan Williams, and by his daughter Imogen. Richard Carr plays the Jig from the St Paul’s Suite on the Lincoln organ which Holst himself played, and we sing Holst’s Nunc Dimittis, folksong arrangements and festival Choruses. Janet Wheeler’s Ceaseless Round of Circling Planets, written to mark the centenary of the Planets Suite uses solo waterphone to create otherworldly sounds. Between the varied music we hear words from Holst and his contemporaries that evoke the extraordinary time of England in the 1910s.

Programme to include:

Gustav Holst - Nunc Dimittis

Gustav Holst - Six Choral Folk Songs (excerpts)

Gustav Holst - Three Festival Choruses (including 'Turn Back, O Man')

Janet Wheeler - The Ceaseless Round of Circling Planets

Imogen Holst - Kyrie from Mass in A Minor

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Kyrie from Mass in G minor

J. S. Bach - Kyrie from Missa Brevis in A Major

Gustav Holst - I Vow to Thee My Country