A Piece for Yvonne (1924)

Edited by Raymond Head

(Click on the image for an enlargement of the first page only.)

This attractive, tuneful and quirky piano piece, now published for the first time, is a delightful “folky” addition to the piano repertory suitable for adult or child of grades 2-3 standard.

It was written in 1924 as a gift for Yvonne O’Neill, the 8 year old daughter of Holst’s friends Norman and Adine O’Neill. However, it was not included in his own list of compositions - perhaps because he considered it to be a present and not for public use!

The piece is an example of his great ability to write effective and interesting music for children which at the same time is suitable for adults too!  

It's well worth anyone's time!

A4 score: title page; extended historical note containing new information; 2 pages of music.

£8.00 Buy

Wind Quintet in A Flat, Op.14 (1903)

for Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon

NEW Complete Urtext Edition

Edited by Raymond Head

This edition presents the beautiful Holst Wind Quintet complete – for the first time. Written in 1903 when Gustav Holst was 29, the origin of this work was surrounded in mystery – as was its survival. For many years the whereabouts of the manuscript was unknown but in 1978 it surfaced in the Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey.

The work was first published in 1983 in a truncated version; 44 bars were cut from the first movement and 32 from the second and various markings were added throughout. This edition has restored all the lost bars and cleansed the score of all the additional markings. For the first time scholars and performers, as well as listeners, can study what Holst wrote.

This is a beautiful and substantial work that should be known by all those who are interested in the music of Gustav Holst, wind repertoire and the progress of British music at the beginning of the 20th century.

It was given its official world premiere by the Nash Ensemble at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music in July 2006 and it had its US premiere in the same month by Arcadia Winds, Harvard.

This edition has already been bought by the Nash Ensemble, Berlin Philharmonic Quintet, Birmingham Conservatoire, Guildhall School of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Trinity College of Music, Chetham's School of Music, Boise State University, University of Georgia, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and many other individuals and ensembles in the UK, Europe and USA.

I was astonished after playing through the new edition that everyone was so enthusiastic – the piece seems complete now, much more musical and satisfying. John Anderson (Massachusetts) International Double Reed Society Journal, Summer 2006.

The world première recording of this edition of the Wind Quintet is included on a CD together with the Holst WInd Band Suites by the Hertfordshire Wind Sinfonia, conductor Mark Eager, ISCHIA - ISCH 212. This stunningly accomplished youth ensemble gives excellent accounts of the two suites but the revelation is the intricately meandering quintet, here recorded in its full-length version. Phillip Sommerich, Classical Music Magazine, 22nd November 2008.

“It is good that Holst’s Wind Quintet has resurfaced in its full  form after its long spell in obscurity.” “I believe it is one of the great twentieth-century quintets along with Nielsen ,Hindemith, Barber and  Ligeti”. Meyrick Alexander, Double Reed News 119, Spring 2018

A4 score: title page; historical introduction; manuscript description; notes; 33 pages.
Duration: c. 20 mins

Score and parts: £55.00 Buy    Score only: £25.00 Buy