Holst: St. Paul’s Suite, Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis, Bach: Double Violin Concerto, Holst: Phantasy on British Folk Songs (arr. I. Holst), Dvorak: Serenade for Strings

St. Paul’s Suite is the most famous of the many works Holst wrote for his pupils at St. Paul’s Girls’ School; what inspiring teaching those girls must have had and how they must have enjoyed their visits to Thaxted!

Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia is likewise one of his most popular works, valued for its ‘grave beauty’, depth of feeling and Englishness.

Holst loved Bach’s music and as a boy learned the violin; the Double Violin Concerto acknowledges both influences. Holst’s short Phantasy, in his daughter Imogen’s arrangement for string orchestra, demonstrates her own skills as a musician.

Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings was inspired by his own folk music, three decades before Vaughan Williams started collecting in Essex.

The Brandenburg Strings have often found ways of using the magical acoustic and spatial diversity of Thaxted Church to enhance already beautiful music.

Look out for these qualities in the Tallis Fantasia, which is scored to maximise antiphonal effects.

Look out also for informal gigs around Thaxted by groups of Brandenburg musicians before this concert starts!