Herbert Howells: 6 Pieces for Organ: Organ: Instrumental Album

Intrata No 2 was found in a small manuscript book in the library of the Royal College of Music with a dedicated to Sir Walter Adcock on his 80th birthday 29 December 1941. It is a piece that deserves to be included in Howells’s oeuvre.Dated 1969 Flourish for a Bidding was written for the Royal College of Music Centenary Fund was auctioned and bought by Novello & Company. Flourish has a stylistic characteristics in common with Rhapsody No 4 and the Epilogue 1974. St Louis Comes to Clifton was a private publication entitled ‘A Garland for DGAF’ and given to the late Douglas Fox a distinguished one-armed Organist who was Director of Music at Clifton.Herbert Howells is a giantof 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 three works are interesting examples.

Master Tallis's Testament No.3 from Six Pieces for Organ. Composed in 1940 Master Tallis's Testament unfolds Quasi lento teneramente in a gentle six-eight rhythm and in G minor. It consists of three variants of a theme which falls into three phrases (eight plus six plus four bars). The music rises gradually to a climax at the end of the third variant. A quiet echo of the last two bars supplies a coda and a peaceful ending in the major. The piece is one which its composer regards as most typical and with particular affection. Its title which pays tribute to a father of English cathedral music allies it to the twenty-four pieces contained in Howells' two sets of clavichordpieces the twelve of Lambert's Clavichord (the Lambert not being the composer Constant but the Bath photographer Herbert who in the Twenties published a set of portraits of British composers (including Howells) and the twelve of Howells' Clavichord (1951) the separate titles similarly evoke those of the Elizabethan Virginalists. © 1977 Felix Aprahamian

In 1959 Howells wrote the Fancy and Toccata for a Chamber Organ in St Mary's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen after the main organ was bombed during the Second World War.

Noël 2 is an exciting collection of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany music for mixed voice choirs, which follows on from the highly acclaimed Noël! Volume 1 (Catalogue No. NOV310800). The contents range from the Renaissance to the present: from Byrd and Sweelinck, via Bach, familiar settings of traditional and lesser known carols through the ages to Howells and Leighton, and work by today's composers including Richard Rodney Bennett, Eric Whitacre, John Tavener Tarik O'Regan and Richard Allain. Mixed voice choirs of all levels will find here new arrangements of favourite carols as well as stimulating works for the Christmas season, from the easy to learn to the more challenging and unconventional. Selected and edited by David Hill, Choral Advisor to Novello, Chief Conductor of the BBC singers, Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Chief Conductor of The Southern Sinfonia and Music Director of Leeds Philharmonic Society. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Southampton in 2002 in recognition of his Services to Music. 'Noël was a welcome addition to the Christmas list for decent standard choirs - Noël 2 adds even more to the repertoire in a handy volume... The main enticements are some fantastic new arrangements of old favourites, a number of works previously only available in single sheets (Whitacre's Lux Arumque among others) and some fantastic new surprises. Adrian Peacock's Venite, Gaudete is a wonderfully original and vibrant setting, Richard Rodney Bennet's I Wonder as I Wander is both reflective and effective, and there are plenty more. Some of the pieces here will challenge your choir, but there's a vast amount to get the Christmas inspiration flowing. ' - Jonathan Wikeley, Music Teacher November 2009 '?an outstanding resource for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany ' Andrew Stewart, Choir and amp - Organ November/December 2010 Noel! 2 Interview With David Hill by Musicroom / Choeur SATB Et Orgue (Ou Piano)