Herbert Howells 1892-1983

[vandermolen]

Most of the discussion on this thread seems to be around his chamber or vocal music. Any particular recommendations from his orchestral music?

[Irons]

A rite of passage for British composers to compose at least one work for strings. Howells no exception.

[calyptorhynchus]

A rite of passage for British composers to compose at least one work for strings. Howells no exception.

And this seems to be a genre that British composers excel at, every one who tries it seems to produce a masterpiece, eg Grace Williams Sea Sketches.

Just a little plug here for my MIDI version on Robert Simpson's Variations and Fugue on a Theme of J S Bach (1991), which I prepared in default of a commercial recording.

[calyptorhynchus]

I have just been relistening to this:



Can't get over how good these three works are, and how good the performances of them are. Definitely one of the great Lyrita recordings.

[Roasted Swan]

I have just been relistening to this:



Can't get over how good these three works are, and how good the performances of them are. Definitely one of the great Lyrita recordings.

just so..... glorious in every respect,

[kyjo]

I have just been relistening to this:



Can't get over how good these three works are, and how good the performances of them are. Definitely one of the great Lyrita recordings.

These are indeed beautiful works, though admittedly highly influenced by RVW's signature "pastoral" style. For me, Howell's personal musical voice is to be heard to greatest effect in his mature choral/orchestral masterworks Hymnus Paradisi and Missa Sabrinensis.

[Roy Bland]

Colorful dances

But i 'd have a query:entire Howells's orchestral music is on disc?

[Roasted Swan]

Colorful dances

But i 'd have a query:entire Howells's orchestral music is on disc?

there is a list of compositions in the book "the music of Herbert Howells" by Phillip Cooke & David Maw.

Going through that very little is "missing" in the recorded catalogue but of course the 2 volumes of orchestral music on Chandos did not include the piano concerti or the string orchestra works.  It does list;

Overture (1910-11) - missing
Symphony in D major (1918) incomplete
The Dansant (A Dance Suite for Toy Orchestra) - 1919 missing
Folk-Tune Set (1940)
Concerto for Organ & Strings (incomplete - 1942-45)

To state the obvious/well-known.  When you look through a chronological list of Howells' work it does jump out how there is pretty much nothing post WWII that is not either sacred/ecclesiastical or includes voices in some way.

[Luke]

... although there are notable exceptions like the second book of Howells Clavichord (1961) which is (part of what I think is) one of his greatest pieces.

[Irons]

there is a list of compositions in the book "the music of Herbert Howells" by Phillip Cooke & David Maw.

Going through that very little is "missing" in the recorded catalogue but of course the 2 volumes of orchestral music on Chandos did not include the piano concerti or the string orchestra works.  It does list;

Overture (1910-11) - missing
Symphony in D major (1918) incomplete
The Dansant (A Dance Suite for Toy Orchestra) - 1919 missing
Folk-Tune Set (1940)
Concerto for Organ & Strings (incomplete - 1942-45)

To state the obvious/well-known.  When you look through a chronological list of Howells' work it does jump out how there is pretty much nothing post WWII that is not either sacred/ecclesiastical or includes voices in some way

The death of his son in 1935 affected him greatly, it is said Howells never got over it. This may explain the bias towards sacred works in his output. Selfishly I regret this as I agree of the excellence of the Lyrita issue above, also String Quartet No.3 "In Gloucestershire"  a great favourite. Wish there was more.

[Roy Bland]

there is a list of compositions in the book "the music of Herbert Howells" by Phillip Cooke & David Maw.

Going through that very little is "missing" in the recorded catalogue but of course the 2 volumes of orchestral music on Chandos did not include the piano concerti or the string orchestra works.  It does list;

Overture (1910-11) - missing
Symphony in D major (1918) incomplete
The Dansant (A Dance Suite for Toy Orchestra) - 1919 missing
Folk-Tune Set (1940)
Concerto for Organ & Strings (incomplete - 1942-45)

To state the obvious/well-known.  When you look through a chronological list of Howells' work it does jump out how there is pretty much nothing post WWII that is not either sacred/ecclesiastical or includes voices in some way.

TNX IMHO his symphony could be valuable

[calyptorhynchus]

I was looking at the newish Somm disc of SQ3 'In Gloucestershire' and this is what the spiel says about the '1920 version' recorded on that disc.

'Herbert Howells first composed a string quartet entitled "In Gloucestershire" in 1916, though the score was immediately lost. He began re-composing the work a few years later before announcing its completion in 1920. Following early performances and revisions, this version also disappeared. However, in the 1980s it emerged that a set of parts of the original 1920 version had survived, and it is this version, newly [re]constructed and edited by the author of the booklet notes, Jonathan Clinch, and cellist Joseph Spooner who also features on this disc.'

So, there was a later version of the work (from the 1930s?) which is the one we have been hearing up to now?

Has anyone heard this new recording, is the work significantly different from the later version?

[Roasted Swan]

I was looking at the newish Somm disc of SQ3 'In Gloucestershire' and this is what the spiel says about the '1920 version' recorded on that disc.

'Herbert Howells first composed a string quartet entitled "In Gloucestershire" in 1916, though the score was immediately lost. He began re-composing the work a few years later before announcing its completion in 1920. Following early performances and revisions, this version also disappeared. However, in the 1980s it emerged that a set of parts of the original 1920 version had survived, and it is this version, newly [re]constructed and edited by the author of the booklet notes, Jonathan Clinch, and cellist Joseph Spooner who also features on this disc.'

So, there was a later version of the work (from the 1930s?) which is the one we have been hearing up to now?

Has anyone heard this new recording, is the work significantly different from the later version?

from a MusicWeb review;

"It would be something of an understatement to say that Herbert Howells was careless about the score of his String Quartet No.3. The work was first composed in 1916 and, as the liner notes put it, "was almost immediately lost", apparently left on a train. Three years later, fragments of the original work started coming back to Howells, so he rewrote the piece. In effect, it was a recomposition. He completed the new version in 1920, at which point "this version also disappeared", but it seems that this was more a withdrawal of a work than a loss.

Howells continued to work on the quartet and to revise it into the 1930s, to the point that only the 2nd-movement the scherzo remained essentially the same, albeit with a different title. This revision of the recomposed version is what collectors will know via other recordings, notably the Britten Quartet on EMI, the Dante Quartet on Naxos, and – the earliest of the three – Divertimenti on Hyperion"

In other words the usually recorded version is the later revision......

[calyptorhynchus]

from a MusicWeb review;

"It would be something of an understatement to say that Herbert Howells was careless about the score of his String Quartet No.3. The work was first composed in 1916 and, as the liner notes put it, "was almost immediately lost", apparently left on a train. Three years later, fragments of the original work started coming back to Howells, so he rewrote the piece. In effect, it was a recomposition. He completed the new version in 1920, at which point "this version also disappeared", but it seems that this was more a withdrawal of a work than a loss.

Howells continued to work on the quartet and to revise it into the 1930s, to the point that only the 2nd-movement the scherzo remained essentially the same, albeit with a different title. This revision of the recomposed version is what collectors will know via other recordings, notably the Britten Quartet on EMI, the Dante Quartet on Naxos, and – the earliest of the three – Divertimenti on Hyperion"

In other words the usually recorded version is the later revision......

Oh well, the download is on special, so I might have a listen and report back.