The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

Herbert Howells is widely regarded as among the most gifted English composers of his generation, and is set apart by his unique sound world. Here we find one of the finest English choral motets of the 20th century, Take Him, Earth, For Cherishing, which was commissioned in 1963 for the memorial service of John F Kennedy, while the Requiem of 30 years before is a masterpiece of quiet intensity. Widely and erroneously thought as written in memory of his his son, Michael, who died aged 9, the piece was in fact written two years previously in 1936, based on a format of one of Howells's teachers, Walford Davies in his own Requiem. Much of the music was used as the basis for Howells's extended choral work, Hymnus Paradisi, for choir, orchestra and soloists which was written in 1938 and dedicated to his son. It was only in the seventies however that Howells allowed the Requiem to be seen and heard for the first time and it was published in 1981. For Dr Robinson, "it rather caught me by surprise" and the approach to the Requiem could not fail to be influenced by the larger work which grew out of it. However, while the Hymnus may seem more raw and overtly passionate, there is a quiet intensity in the Requiem, carrying with it an innocence and humility which was to feed Howells's own composition,s equally with his son's death, for the rest of his life.

The setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis which he dedicated to St Paul's Cathedral is probably his most grand and extensive. With the vast space and resonance of Wren's cathedral in mind, the harmonic rhythm is slower-paced that his other settings, something which only makes its build-ups all the more gut-wrenching. The way in which the Glorias weak open the tension which grows throughout each setting can only be described as cataclysmic. Despite this, it is to the peril of many choirs that this be thought of as a 'loud' piece and the recording here with Dr Robinson certainly captures some of that humility found in the Requiem. The third Rhapsody for organ was written in one sitting during a Zeppelin raid in 1918 while Howells was staying with his friend Edward Bairstow in York; the heightened levels of immediacy and drama compared with the first two Rhapsodies are evident from the first bar. It was during the second world war however that Howells wrote his six 'anthems in a time of war' then shortened to 'four anthems', including the plangent setting of the plangent Psalm 48, 'Like as the Hart'. Although this was written during Howells's time as Acting Organist at St John's, it was not performed in St John's Chapel until 1951, when Howells heard it for the first time, directed by the fresh-faced George Guest in his first year at the helm. It is fitting that the alto soloist on this recording of the Requiem was also the treble soloist on Guest's recording, The Sound of St John's from 1991.