I Vow To Thee, My Country: Choral Music by Gustav Holst

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Vann’s talent for eliciting intelligent responses to text, and his use of dynamic nuances to clarify meaning, are splendidly evident in the Nunc Dimittis. The 20 singers of the Royal Hospital... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2023, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 18th Nov 2022
Catalogue No: SOMMCD279
Label: Somm
Length: 76 minutes

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Holst: Nunc dimittis, H127

Work length3:29

$1.00

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Katy Hill (soprano), Jonathan Beatty (tenor)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Songs of Praise (1931 Version)

Work length2:19

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$1.75

Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

No. 498, Gird on Thy Sword, H. 168 "Chilswell"

Track length2:19

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Holst: Two Psalms H117

Work length14:38

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Joshua Ryan, Eloise Irving (soprano), Matthew Long (tenor)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Psalm 86 "To My Humble Supplication"

Track length8:35

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Psalm 148 "Lord, Who Hast Made Us for Thine Own"

Track length6:03

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Holst: 4 Hymns for Songs of Praise, H. 161

Work length2:07

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

No. 2, In This World, the Isle of Dreams "Brook End"

Track length2:07

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Holst: Not Unto Us, O Lord, H. 22

Work length6:11

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Joshua Ryan, Clara Kanter (alto), Edward Hughes (tenor)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Our Blest Redeemer 'Essex'

Work length2:21

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Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Short Festival Te Deum, H145

Work length4:37

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Excerpt, Holst: Hymns (3) for the English Hymnal, H. 73

Work length1:38

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

No. 2, From Glory to Glory Advancing "Sheen"

Track length1:38

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Holst: Man born to toil

Work length4:16

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Joshua Ryan, Richard Horne
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Eternal Father, H. 169

Work length3:57

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Joshua Ryan, Richard Horne, Eloise Irving (soprano)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: The Coming of Christ

Work length3:38

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$1.75

Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

By Weary Stages the Old World Ages "Hill Crest"

Track length3:38

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Holst: Christ Hath a Garden, H 167

Work length2:23

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Ave Maria, H49, Op. 9b

Work length4:35

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: I Vow to Thee, My Country

Work length2:22

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: Festival Choruses (3), Op. 36a, H. 134

Work length3:35

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Joshua Ryan, Richard Horne
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

No. 3, A Festival Chime

Track length3:35

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Holst: All People That on Earth Do Dwell

Work length6:33

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Joshua Ryan
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

Holst: 3 Festival Choruses, Op. 36a, H. 134

Work length7:39

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Joshua Ryan, Katy Hill (soprano), Angus McPhee (bass)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
William Vann

No. 1, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Track length3:47

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$1.75

No. 2, Turn Back, O Man

Track length3:52

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About
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About

SOMM RECORDINGS announces the release of I Vow to Thee, My Country, believed to be the first recording to feature all of Gustav Holst’s sacred choral music, by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea directed by William Vann, with organist Joshua Ryan and Richard Horne on tubular and bass bells.

A prolific composer best known for his orchestral spectacular The Planets, Holst was an expressive and sincere composer and arranger of religious music despite his professed agnosticism.

Included are his only setting of the Anglican Service for Evening Prayer, Nunc dimittis, and his substantial Two Psalms and Four Festival Choruses, whose inspirations range from the Bible, Byzantine liturgy, 16th-century sources (not least Bach), and Welsh hymns.

The 12 other featured songs see Holst setting an impressive array of centuries-spanning texts, and include the striking eight-part setting of Ave Maria for unaccompanied female voices, the ecstatic Not Unto Us, O Lord, premiered by the Royal Hospital Chelsea and William Vann in 2020, and the disc’s anthemic title song, its melody borrowed from The Planets’ ‘Jupiter’.

I Vow to Thee, My Country is sponsored by The Holst Society, who also commissioned four new arrangements making their debut on disc by Iain Farrington, and includes extensive, authoritative notes by Andrew Neill.

William Vann and the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s previous SOMM releases include Carols from Chelsea (SOMMCD0161), a Guardian Best Classical Christmas Release admired for its “model singing”; In Remembrance (SOMMCD0187) marking the centenary of the 1918 Armistice was praised by Gramophone for its “beautifully nuanced performances”; and The Reeds by Severn Side (SOMMCD0278), choral music by Elgar, which BBC Music Magazine hailed as “another feather in the cap for the Vann-Royal Hospital Chelsea partnership”.

Reviews

January 2023

Vann’s talent for eliciting intelligent responses to text, and his use of dynamic nuances to clarify meaning, are splendidly evident in the Nunc Dimittis. The 20 singers of the Royal Hospital Chelsea choir give life to every line, moving from hushed beginnings to full-voiced elation with rare articulacy and confidence.

May 2023

A highlight is the eight-part Ave Maria for upper voices, in which the sopranos and altos of this excellent professional choir firmly refute Ebenezer Prout’s pessimistic comment that there would be ‘very few female choirs good enough to sing it well’… Four Festival Choruses conclude the disc in impressive style.

December 2022

The Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea under their director William Vann give an ideal performance. The organist, Joshua Ryan makes a significant contribution on the splendid J.W. Walker instrument in Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square.

British Music Society Journal

This recording by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea directed by William Vann is unlikely ever to be equalled, certainly never bettered. The 20 choral voices are perfectly blended in harmonies, with dazzlingly complex and sometimes astonishing counterpoints as well.

I Vow To Thee, My Country

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