Bachtrack top ten: Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Statue of Gustav Holst in Cheltenham's Imperial Gardens

Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams walking in the Malvern Hills, 1921

By Mark Pullinger, 21 September 2024

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“singularly colossal and mysterious in its swarthy monotony”

Stephen Pritchard, 12th December

Some of the most familiar Christmas carols have melodies derived from folksong – which might have been lost altogether if not preserved in the early 20th century.

Bachtrack top ten: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Mark Pullinger, 12th October

Mark Pullinger celebrates this quintessentially English composer with a list of RVW's most inspiring works.

Fight or flight? Violinists on tackling The Lark Ascending

Kevin W Ng, 5th October

Often dismissed on account of its popularity, The Lark Ascending divides audiences... and players. Our own Kevin Ng is a violinist and avoided it for years, but took advice from three violinists when adding it to his repertoire.

The work of a lifetime: The Pilgrim’s Progress

Roy Westbrook, 5th October

John Bunyan's allegory occupied Ralph Vaughan Williams for a lifetime, culminating in the 1951 stage work, premiered at Covent Garden. Roy Westbrook follows the composer's progress...

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

Mark Pullinger, 5th October

How does this work by Vaughan Williams, an agnostic who composed hymns and was inspired by church music, cast its spell over audiences?

The power and the glory: Vaughan Williams, the transcendent symphonist

Chris Garlick, 5th October

Ralph Vaughan Williams' nine symphonies represent one of the peaks of creative achievement in British culture. Enthusiast Chris Garlick takes us on a musical journey through the cycle.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.