The 150th anniversary of Holst’s birth last year was a good enough reason for this unusual recording that celebrates the composer’s close association with St Paul’s Girl School in West London. Holst served as director of music there from 1905 until 1934, and it was there that he wrote part of The Planets, and also the St Paul’s Suite and Brook Green Suite. Both the latter works are included on this interesting CD, where they receive thoroughly respectable accounts under Leigh O’Hara, himself a former director of music at the school. But the CD’s interest for the dedicated Holstian must surely lie in the premiere recordings of the remaining works on the programme. The Gavotte of 1933 is a casualty from the Brook Green Suite, removed by the composer after hearing a rehearsal in 1934. More substantial is the Seven Choruses from the Alcestis of Euripides (1920), and the masque entitled The Vision of Dame Christian (1909), both essentially music for dramatic texts, along with Playground Song (1911). While none of them is Holst at his finest, they each demonstrate his ability to deliver well-crafted occasional music. The entire programme – familiar and unfamiliar – is prepared with dedication, with the school’s Paulina Voices making a distinguished contribution.