Although written some six years apart, the two works on this compact disc form the joint culmination of Holst’s mature art as a choral composer. He had been interested in choral music from his early years and, as a student at the Royal College of Music, composed several short choral pieces and also took part in a bicentenary performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas which greatly influenced his approach to the problems of setting the English language to music. On leaving college, one of his first published compositions was an Ave Maria for double female chorus, demonstrating a mastery of vocal writing, and his practical knowledge of female voices was further developed after he joined the staff of St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith in 1905. His work at Morley College and the Thaxted festivals gave him a valuable insight into the possibilities of writing for amateur singers, resulting in such works as the four groups of Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, the Two Psalms, Six Choral Folksongs, This have I done for my true love, and the magnificent Hymn of Jesus of 1917. He also had the knack of writing a simple hymn tune, and his carol In the bleak midwinter quickly became a firm favourite.