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Herbert Howells 'Orchestral Works: volume 1'

K. Farrington | Missegre, France | 02/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once again Chandos provide us with an hours great music that was not recorded formerly (save one work of four minutes) and yet is totally beautiful, original and exciting. The Kings Herald is from the suite 'Pageantry' and shows more versatility than its Brass Band roots with exciting brass fanfares set against full orchestra and organ. A sense of expectation and optimism underlines the work and one's feeling for the CD as a whole. However, Howells comes into his own with the orchestral poems 'Paradise Rondel' and 'Pastoral Rhapsody' which he paints in a rich pastoral vein. During most of his creative life, Howells felt somewhat in the shadow of Vaughan Williams and allowed the Pastoral Rhapsody to be forgotten because 'he may have felt it may have been imitative of VW's 'Pastoral Symphony''. While it is certainly the case that certain features of the work share something with the atmosphere of part of VW's symphony, Howells' work is totally original in its totality and deserves to be heard on its own merits. The modal chords, woodwind arabesques and general English Folksong source of inspiration are formed into a structure that Howells creates as his own and provides the listener with a new perspective on what was sometimes called perjoratively the 'cowpat school'. As Holst uses this material differently from VW and Percy Grainger, so Howells has his own voice which is as individual as the two other more popular masters. One feels that if he had possessed greater self confidence and exhibited less self criticism we would be hearing these works far more frequently than we do today. The two cello and orchestra works are elegaic and reveal a sense of loss and tragedy in the way that Frank Bridge did in his 'Oration' with the same forces. Howells is never as violent as Bridge and keeps his emotions and tonality intact, thus in its way being far more English in its reserve given the profundity of emotion being portrayed. The BBC should take on the role of playing and publicising these works which deserve a much greater audience than is the case at present. Chandos have done their bit. Howells is a unique voice in English music and no assessment of the works of this period should miss him out."