Bury Bach Choir: Holst & Fauré: Pathways to Paradise

Bury Bach Choir: Holst & Fauré: Pathways to Paradise

A choral journey through eight superb sacred masterpieces

Imogen Holst
Mass in A minor

Gustav Holst
Hymn of Jesus (Op. 37)

Gabriel Fauré
String quartet in E minor (Op. 121)
Cantique de Jean Racine
Tu es Petrus
Sancta Mater
Ecce Fidelis
Tantum Ergo
In Paradisum

This concert brings together two significant anniversaries - the 150th anniversary of Gustav Holst’s birth, and the 100th anniversary of the death of Gabriel Fauré - with a journey through some of their truly beautiful sacred choral masterpieces. We also include a short Mass by Gustav Holst’s daughter Imogen.

Imogen Holst, who was Suffolk based, was an important figure in British musical life for several decades through her compositions and through her work as Artistic Director of Aldeburgh Festival and assistant to Benjamin Britten. Her concisely and beautifully crafted Mass in A minor, written when she was just twenty, is for performance by an unaccompanied SSATB choir.

Gustav Holst’s music was influenced by his great friend Ralph Vaughan Williams with whom he collaborated over many years. His Hymn of Jesus is scored for two mixed choruses and one women’s semi-chorus, and we are performing the version accompanied by piano and strings. When first performed just after the First World War it received high accolades and was widely acknowledged as belonging in the front rank of English choral music, being described by The Times as “undoubtedly the most strikingly original choral work which has been produced in this country for many years”. It was performed frequently through the 1920’s in the UK and the US.

After the interval we turn to the music of French composer Gabriel Fauré, starting with his final composition, the string quartet in E minor, played by United Strings of Europe. This will be followed by six choral pieces. His Cantique de Jean Racine, with its wonderfully rich melody, resonates with hope and joy, as do the four short motets that follow, and the concert ends on a rapturous note with his incomparable In Paradisum.

United Strings of Europe
Bury Bach Choir
Benedict Collins Rice conductor

Apex Friends Priority Booking opens 6 September 2024
General Booking opens 9 September 2024
Early booking discount: £1 off all full price tickets booked by 30 September 2024

Times: 7.30pm-9.30pm
Tickets: £27, £22, £17 (all seats reserved). Under 30’s go half price.
Venue: The Apex, Bury St Edmunds

Prices include £2 booking fee

This event is promoted by Bury Bach Choir

If you would like to be added to Bury Bach Choir’s mailing list, please visit the Bury Bach Choir website.