Composer: Herbert Norman Howells, Ian Venables
Performer: Choir of Merton College Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas, Eppie Sharp, Aine Smith, Edmund Saddington, LucyAnne Fletcher
Orchestra: Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia
Conductor: Benjamin Nicholas
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Delphian
Catalogue: DCD34252
Release: 2022
Size: 1.22 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Howells: Anthems to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Op. 9
01. I. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem
02. III. Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks
03. Howells: The House of the Mind
Venables: Requiem
04. I. Introit (Requiem aeternam)
05. II. Kyrie
06. III. Offertorium
07. IV. Pie Jesu
08. V. Sanctus
09. VI. Agnus Dei
10. VII. Libera me
11. VIII. Lux aeterna
12. Venables: God be merciful, Op. 51
13. Venables: Rhapsody for Organ Op.25 (In memoriam Herbert Howells)
Benjamin Nicholas draws parallels between the familiar English choral sound of Howells and that of contemporary composer Ian Venables. Venables’ Requiem has already been warmly received by critics in a 2020 recording with just organ accompaniment. Now, Nicholas and his Merton College choir present it in an orchestrated version made specially for this recording.
The Howells items here are also premiere recordings: new instrumental accompaniments to two of his Four Anthems, in arrangements by Howells scholars Howard Eckdahl and Jonathan Clinch, illuminate and intensify his rich choral writing like back-lighting on a stained-glass window, and they are complemented by the first recording of Howells’ original orchestration of The House of the Mind – a chance to hear one of his major underperformed works, introspective yet dramatic.