Mimi Ezust:

>Would someone tell me about this work, please.  How long is it? What are
>some good recordings? Is it scored for full orchestra? What does it sound
>like? If it is on a cd with other pieces, what are they?

It is short (maybe ten minutes?), quiet and subdued.  Moody, even, as the
subtitle, "Homage to Hardy" would suggest.  It is for orchestra.  There
used to be--not that long ago--a good recording by Malcolm Sargent with
a very varied group of other pieces including the Brook Green Suite (a
somewhat comparable piece), The Perfect Fool (very different--more like The
Planets), St Paul's Suite (for strings), Beni Mora (Mideastern sounding),
and the Short Festival Te Deum.  You might be able to pick this up used.
Currently available recordings have less on them (Andrew Davis with The
Planets, for instance) and I haven't heard them.

For anyone intersted in Holst's choral music, Berkshire Record Outlet
currently lists Willcocks recording of Hymn to Dionysus paired with Choral
Hymns from the Rig Veda; and the Choral Symphony.  The latter I haven't
heard, but I like the other.

Jim Tobin