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Remembered as a precise composer of hymn tunes, Christmas carols, and music for radio programs and movies, Elizabeth Poston was involved in the field of music from various angles. She studied piano with Harold Samuel and received a formal education at the Royal Academy of Music, then gained recognition for her compositional skills after several of her songs were published in the 1920s. While broadcasting for the BBC (1939 - 1945 and 1947) she simultaneously wrote about music for the Arts Council and performed at the National Gallery Concerts. Quite notable among these overlapping activities was her supportive war leadership of the music in the European Service. It was prior to and during the period she presided over the Society of Women Musicians (1955 - 1961) that she adamantly composed scores for dozens of radio shows, often in partnership with leading poets of her day. Undoubtedly drawing upon her experience as a writer, Poston also edited song collections. Although she did travel abroad to countries such as the U.S. and Canada, she passed away in the same vicinity of her birth at the age of 81.
Poston's works, which include Sweet Suffolk Owl (1925), Concertino da camera on a Theme of Martin Peerson (1950), The Nativity (1951), and Sing unto the Lord (1959), are primarily stylistically characterized as having stemmed from the neo-Classical. Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (also known as "The Apple Tree Carol") (1967) is her most widely recorded carol. The numerous recordings of this work have featured well-known groups such as the Westminster Abbey Choir, the Pro Arte Singers, the St. John's College Choir, and the Elora Festival Singers.
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