Herbert Howells

A late Howells work for SATB and organ. Although originally intended for liturgical use it could also be used as a festive anthem or in a recital. From the first notes of the organ part it is clear that this is vintage Howells.

The House Of The Mind is the second part of a set of 3 Motets by Herbert Howells. God Is Gone Up(NOV950203) and King Of Glory (NOV952666) complete the trilogy which is written for SATB chorus and Organ. This motet was completed in 1954 with text based on a poem by Joseph Beaumont. Previously available only by Special Order.

The Prelude de Profundis is excerpted from two sets of Preludes Howells composed for Organ of which this is the first of the second set. Entirely different in mood from the nervous energy of the Rhapsody Prelude de Profundis expresses the call ‘from the depths’.Herbert Howells is a giant of 20th century Anglican church music the remainder of whose oeuvre is in the process of gaining new appreciation.He left a body of distinguished Organ music of which these two works are fine examples. Howells’s first three rhapsodies for Organ were published together during the years of the first World War. It was not until forty years later that Howells returned to the form until although it shares many structural similarities with the earlier works.

Herbert Howells’ Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Collegium Regale) for SATB and Organ accompaniment is a vibrant sacred work with beautiful voicings and a wonderful effervescence. This is rich and colourful church music with integrity he has successfully brought together Tudor church music and merged it with modern harmony and counterpoint. It is this best-of-both-world’s feature that makes Howell’s version of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis a pleasing one and it is dedicated to King's College Cambridge.

Howell's Mass In The Dorian Mode was first heard at Mass in Westminster Cathedral on 24th November 1912. It was the first of Howell's works to be given a professional London performance. The Mass is scored for SATB unaccompanied.

Hymnus Paradisi is composed for SATB chorus and orchestra with soprano and tenor soloists and is characterised by an extraordinary depth and power. The text includes lines from the traditional Latin Requiem along with lines from the Anglican burial service as well as the texts of Psalm 23 and Psalm 121. Because of the personal nature of the composition Hymnus Paradisi remained unperformed until 1950. This vocal score includes a piano reduction of the orchestral score.

Composer Herbert Howells is most widely known for the church music he wrote toward the later part of his career though his secular works are undoing a much-deserved revaluation. But this work for baritone Voice Violin Cello and Organ dates from a much earlier stage of his life. Howells had suffered severe ill health in 1917 just at the time Babylon was written and had withdrawn from his first appointment at Salisbury Cathedral. It was also the time he wrote his Elegy full of loss and transience composed in memory of a friend killed in the First World War.The dramatic even operatic scale of emotion in By the Waters of Babylon brings the anguish of the piece right tothe fore. It is definitely a Howells composition underpinned by solid structure and displaying chromatic sensuousness. The words are one of the great lamentations and Howells has enhanced their effect in this mighty work.