Instrumentation
SSATB - strings
Availability
Full score, vocal score available on sale and parts for hire from the publishers.
Festival Anthem also exists in a version for SSATB chorus and organ (or piano). The chorus should read from the present score for either version. A separate edition of the full score for the version with organ (or piano) is also available for hire from the publishers.
Programme Notes
Note from The Holst Foundation
Imogen Holst composed this setting of Psalm 104 in August and September 1946. She dedicated it to Dorothy Elmhirst, who with her husband Leonard had established Dartington as a rural community in 1925. The original version is scored for chorus (SSATB) and organ or piano, but uncharacteristically for the composer, the manuscript contains no indication of tempo, nor any dynamics, although it is otherwise complete. There is no record of performance. This edition with accompaniment of string orchestra was prepared by Colin Matthews for recording by the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Alice Farnham, in January 2024.