Before Imogen Holst died in 1984, she established the Holst Foundation to support living composers which led to the founding NMC Recordings. Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav Holst, was a teacher, educator, festival administrator, and one of Britain’s most accomplished composers.
Discovering Imogen features many world premiere recordings of her Modern era works for choir and orchestra. Colin Matthews, founder of the NMC label, hopes to bring her music to light remarking that Imogen Holst “was hopelessly evasive if you asked her about her music, and although I knew she had composed throughout her life it was not until after her death that we discovered quite how extensive her catalogue is – well over 200 works, many of them arrangements or on a small scale, but many substantial pieces as well. And quite a number of these larger works remained unperformed, as if simply set aside while she was preoccupied with her many teaching roles, as well as promoting the music of her father.”
