Bbc Singers, Martyn Brabbins John Pickard

Previous BIS releases of works by John Pickard have mainly featured instrumental compositions. This recording presents another facet of the British composer’s work, with compositions for choir under the expert direction of Martyn Brabbins as well as two instrumental pieces. The five short Latin motets as well as Ozymandias, Pickard’s opus 1, can be described as ‘occasional pieces’ composed during the composer’s student years or for the choir he conducts at the University of Bristol. They display solid tonal grounding and mainly homophonic writing and provide a stepping-stone to some of the more dissonant style found in the latter works. Written for the BBC Singers, whose reputation is well established, the Mass in Troubled Times is an ambitious work bearing witness to a context of global uncertainty.

This album, released by The Gustav Holst Society, with Albion Records, is in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gustav Holst's birth on 21 September 1874. It is based on chamber works written or arranged for violin with either voice or another instrument, by Holst himself and four composers who were contemporary with him - with a focus on neglected works but including a new arrangement of one very popular piece. Distinguished violinist Hannah Roper is joined by Martin Jacoby at the piano, by soprano Emma Tring and by harpist Valeria Clarke.