MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Holst: The Evening Watch

'The performances here are wonderfully responsive. The individual voices seem perfectly attuned to the special colouring of Holst's music'
- Gramophone

"Holst's genius lies in music for real ears in real places, even though his musical language is often other-worldly. What Wetton achieves in this reissue is a foot in the door of showing the wonder of Holst's music and its relevance to music composed long after his death."
(MusicWeb Feb 2007)

Described by The Times in April 2001 as: "absolutely focused in attack, phrasing and intonation", the Holst Singers are directed by Stephen Layton, conductor of the Gramophone Award winner for Best Choral CD in 2001.

The Holst Singers, reputed for ground breaking performances and recordings, were awarded "Editor's Choice" by the Gramophone Magazine in August 1999 for their recording of Gretchaninov's "Vespers", and released Schnittke's choral masterpiece "Choir Concerto" on the Hyperion label in January 2002. Of the Schnittke CD The Times have described it as: "spine tingling….music great for contemplation, and a terrific showcase for the choir's stamina". Other recordings include CDs of works by Britten, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Thomas Linley. Their IKON CD made with James Bowman, the choir's President, included works by Part, Sviridov, Gorecki, Gretchaninov and Tchaikovsky.

2001 saw the Holst Singers give the first British performance of Rautavaara's "Vespers", perform Part's "Passio" with the Hilliard Ensemble, and participate in the internationally regarded Aldeburgh Festival.

The 2002 programme includes a pair of concerts celebrating the cross-fertilisation of musical traditions and cultures - "East and West" and "Sacred and Profane"; an appearance at the Thaxted Festival in June in a programme of Holst, with Faure's "Requiem" and "Cantique de Jean Racine"; and culminates in Bach's unsurpassable "Mass in B minor" in King's College Chapel, Cambridge in October.

NOTE: This CD has now been withdrawn from the Hyperion catalogue and is now extremely rare.