Richard Hickox conducts a semi-staged performance of two British operatic masterpieces. Holst's
Savitri - like the Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, a product of his fascination with the mystical East - tells of the beautiful Savitri's victorious encounter with Death, who has come to take her on the west coast of Ireland. There, many young lives are lost to the merciless sea, bringing grief and then resignation to those left behind. Penny Gore introduces a performance given on Saturday at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge.
Cambridge University Choir, City of London Sinfonia, conductor Richard Hickox
Hoist Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (Group Three); Savitri Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea
SOUNDING THE CENTURY