A Moorside Suite

The best known version of this work is for brass band but Holst had intended it originally for strings as something for the Junior Orchestra at St Paul's Girls School to match the St Paul's Suite written earlier for the Senior Orchestra. Even scaled down in difficulty from what appears in the brass band version it was beyond the capabilities of the 'juniors' so the Brook Green Suite was written for them instead. Holst's original string version was subsequently published but I felt it lacked the power and richness of the brass band version, (particularly in the outer moments), so I made this arrangement directly from the brass score without the limitations imposed on Holst by his young players. (Philip Lane)