British Choral Classics with the BBC Singers

Conductor Martyn Brabbins returns to conduct the BBC Singers in the world premiere of Bristol-based composer John Pickard's BBC commission, Elemental. Elemental is a work of celebration of the BBC Singers, to whom the piece is dedicated. The text, specially written by Gavin D’Costa, is also a celebration: of the world in all its beauty, and of the awesome and mysterious natural forces that shape our lives. The work is structured around the four classical elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water, framed at the beginning and the end by the image of the Earth from space – a ‘brilliant jewel in the black velvet sky’, as the Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin described it.

The programme also includes the music of Sarah Garrard, a former student of John Pickard at Bristol University, alongside works by Holst, Britten and Elgar.

Recorded at St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge on 19th September 2025. Presented by Ian Skelly.

Holst: Hymns from the Rig Veda
Britten: The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
Sara Garrard: Missa Brevis
Elgar: Five Partsongs from the Greek anthology
Interval
John Pickard: Elemental (BBC Commission, world premiere)

BBC Singers
Elizabeth Bass - harp
Andrew Barclay - percussion
Richard Pearce - piano
Martyn Brabbins - conductor