English choral music new and old

In 2020, BBC Radio 3 is bringing together musical greats, from the past and the present, in one extraordinary Proms season. Radio 3 is broadcasting the best of four decades of unmissable Proms concerts.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s long association with the Proms is reflected in this concert from 2013, in which Nicholas Kok conducts the UK premiere of The Moth Requiem for women’s voices, alto flute and three harps, a dream-like incantation of the names of the dustier cousins of the sun-loving butterfly.

Before that, pre-Reformation motets by William Cornysh and Walter Lambe, preserved in the Eton Choirbook, intersperse with alluring works by Gustav Holst and his daughter Imogen, including the third set of Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda for female voices and harp,

Presented by Petroc Trelawny.

Gustav Holst: Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda – Group 3
William Cornysh: Ave Maria mater Dei
Imogen Holst: Hallo, my fancy, whither wilt thou go?
Walter Lambe: Stella caeli
Sir Harrison Birtwistle: The Moth Requiem (BBC co-commission with the Danish National Vocal Ensemble: UK premiere)

BBC Singers
Nash Ensemble
Nicholas Kok (conductor)

(From BBC Proms, 12 August 2013)