Originally released by Collins Classics as part of its English Songs Series, this recording offers a fascinating selection of the 72 solo songs Holst wrote across his entire compositional career. They range from the Six Songs from 1903-04, representative of the composer’s earlier styles, through the Vedic Hymns of 1907-08, Holst’s first confident use of ancient Hindu literature, the Four Songs for voice and violin, inspired by medieval lyrics and folk music modes, to the Twelve Humbert Wolfe settings of 1929, songs of ‘love, reflection and fantasy’. The disc concludes with The Heart Worships, one of Holst’s best loved songs.