For about six decades, starting in high school band, the works of Gustav Holst have fascinated me—not as an obsession, perhaps as a passion, but definitely as an appreciation.

It was my original intent to revamp my first book, From Kneller Hall to Hammersmith: The Band Works of Gustav Holst, originally published in 1990 through IGEB (International Gesellschaft zur Erforshung und Förderung zu Blasmusik—International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music) as part of their Alta Musica series for their membership by a publisher that no longer exists. My second book, A Comprehensive Biography of Composer Gustav Holst (2001; original title Gustav Holst: An American Perspective), largely sold to libraries. It unavoidably contained snippets of the same material, but its focus was quite different, being a biography of the composer by an author from the western side of the Atlantic.

Since the time of those publications, I continued my career as a college professor/conductor (and now professor emeritus), expanding my field of research to include articles and books about other composers (Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, Anton Rubinstein, etc.) as well as a book on a major critic (Philip Hale). Still, I never totally veered away from Holst, especially in practice. I would venture to guess that my “home” orchestra, the University of Massachusetts Boston Chamber Orchestra, performed more Holst than any other college orchestra in the country. Away from the university, I recorded many CDs with professional orchestras in Eastern Europe. Among the CDs was Gustav Holst: Composer as Arranger. I’ll never forget the look of astonishment on the producer's face as he heard the warm sounds of the heretofore unrecorded Greeting [H54].