Herbert Howells - Hymnus Paradisi; Sir Patrick Spens

HERBERT HOWELLS

Hymnus paradisi / Sir Patrick Spens


Rutter, Claire, soprano
Gilchrist, James, tenor
Bach Choir
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Hill, David, Conductor

Herbert Howells is known chiefly for his church music, arguably the finest by any English composer of the twentieth century. Sir Patrick Spens, Howells’ first attempt at writing a large-scale choral work, has received only one known performance until this recording. Hymnus paradisi was composed under heart-breaking circumstances following the death of the composer’s son, Michael, aged nine. As Howells later wrote: ‘The sudden loss of an only son … might impel a composer … to seek release and consolation in a language and terms most personal to him. Music may well have power … to offer that release and comfort. It did so in my case.’ Throughout this deeply moving work, in which the human tragedy of a boy’s death and a father’s grief are enshrined, Howells’ command of choral and orchestral polyphony is masterly.