Belated But Well Deserved Exposure

Imogen Holst is of course remembered as the daughter of Gustav who worked as an invaluable aide to Britten and as a gifted administrator at such prestigious locations as Dartington and Aldeburgh. But throughout her life she composed very fine chamber music and it is a delight to have this disk by Court Lane Music of String Chamber Music to set the record straight to at least some extent. The pieces range in date of composition from 1928 to 1982 ( giving some kind of numerical symmetry there ! ) Court Lane Music consist of five musicians ( violin, viola, two cellos and piano ) who perform the works in various combinations and it is pleasing that their initiative in recording and releasing this disk on their own label has been rewarded with recognition in music magazine awards and critical acclaim. As well as numerical symmetry, the works follow other chronological patterns. The earliest piece, the Phantasy Quartet, has an undoubted English pastoral feel akin perhaps to Vaughan Williams or even her father. While the latest work, a String Quintet, also has its inspiration in nature with a programmatic journey of the Thames from Cricklade to London and the changing landscape that accompanies it. In between, the works are spikier and are far from oblivious to the modernist influences that she came into close contact with during her administrative working life. Books could be written about the difficulties of being a woman composer in the classical / serious music world and it is in many ways scandalous that this disk represents world premiere recordings of this thoroughly admirable music which should have been much more widely known much earlier. But it is certainbly good to have it now available and it is to be hoped that it will now be played more often in a live context.