On 24 November Imogen Holst’s Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (1935) receives its first public performance from Midori Komachi and the Elgar Sinfonia of London, conducted by Adrian Brown.
Komachi encountered the manuscript for the piece at the Red House archive in Aldeburgh; she discusses the Concerto in The Strad here. It was previously performed in private nearly ninety years ago by Elsie Avril and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer, at the Royal College of Music.
The 13 ½ minute work is cast in three movements and draws extensively on Irish folk melodies. The opening Allegro is a triple-time dance in B minor that gradually drifts away from its opening tonality, before the soloist establishes a new theme in four time. An Andante middle movement features a gently lilting melody for the soloist, with undulating semiquavers underneath, before opening out into a more passionate, expansive sequence with a brief cadenza. The solo violin alone opens the Vivace finale – a jig in 6/8 that starts with quiet staccato triplets. They turn to duplets for a modal A minor interlude, with a steadier, more rugged theme introduced by the cellos, before movement’s opening figure returns with the same excited scurrying.
Other large-scale works by Imogen Holst’s recently taken on by Faber Music appeared on NMC’s Discovering Imogen album, recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Singers, conducted by Alice Farnham, and released in September 2024.