Imogen Holst

<p>Imogen Holst was one of the most wide-ranging and highly regarded of musicians. Popular with all who knew her she was intensively protective of her inner life reminding one friend of a 'locked door of which she had thrown away the key'. Imogen Holst: A Life in Music uses a wealth of newly discovered material to explore the complexities and contradictions of her life and career drawing on her own writings - ranging from heartfelt early poetry through correspondence to a series of journals that maintain a colourful record of her travels and achievements. Most revealing of these is the daily journal that she kept at the start of her working association with Britten a document that provides a unique insight both into her own thoughts and into the professional and domestic life of a major composer. Extensively revised with new material the book also includes a study of Imogen Holst's music and a chronological list of her works revealing her as a composer of tremendous talent whose music deserves to be much more familiar. CHRISTOPHER GROGAN is Director of Collections and Heritage at the Britten-Pears Foundation.</p>