Composer: Herbert Norman Howells
Performer: Alison Hill, Benjamin Hulett, Bach Choir
Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: David Hill
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Size: 1.17 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Stabat Mater
01. Stabat mater dolorosa
02. Cujus animam gementem
03. Quis est homo?
04. Eia, mater
05. Sancta mater
06. Fac ut portem
07. Christe, cum sit hunc exire
08. Te Deum & Jubilate ‘Collegium Regale’
09. Sine Nomine, Op. 37
Recorded: 30 November – 1 December 2013
Recording Venue: Lighthouse, Poole, Dorset, UK
The three works on this recording mark staging posts in Herbert Howells’s compositional life. Sine nomine was commissioned at Elgar’s instigation when Howells was 30 and is predominantly orchestral, with wordless parts for the two vocal soloists. This arch-like ‘spiritual meditation’ was his first extended work for larger forces. Like the Hymnus paradisi (Naxos 8570352), the Stabat Mater is a direct musical reponse to the death of the composer’s nine year-old son, and further reveals his mastery of choral and orchestral polyphony. The Te Deum signalled a fresh and new approach to settings of Anglican canticles.