Considered by many to by Holst's most beautiful choral work, Ode to Death was composed as a tribute to friends who died in World War I. Using the poetry of Walt Whitman, who he considered a mystic new world prophet, Holst set the last section of When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd using open chords with the feeling of infinite space. This haunting classic is now available in a newly engraved and thoroughly researched score by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. The full score and orchestra parts are also available for sale from Serenissima Music.
