Herbert Howells Requiem - a recommendation?

[Beef Oven!]

A little while ago I was listening to a CD of Stainer's Crucifixion on Naxos that I'd picked up as a replacement for a CD (Decca?) that I can't find/lost, at a good price. For one reason or another Herbert Howell's Requiem came into my ken. I've only heard it once, maybe twice and cannot recall a note of it.

Is it a good work?

Seems fairly overlooked.

Is there a great recording out there?

[Roslynmuse]

It's a very beautiful piece (I think), which had a rather chequered history. Withheld by the composer for many years, it was IIRC only first published and performed in the 1980s. It shares some material with Hymnus Paradisum.

It's not an easy sing and that combined with its delayed performance and publication have contributed to its being somewhat overlooked, although it seems to be receiving more performances and recordings now.

I haven't heard all the recordings but Corydon Singers/Matthew Best on Helios is certainly recommendable.

[Petrushka]

I have this recording:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Howells-Requiem-other-choral-works/dp/B000026D1K/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1411938929&sr=1-1&keywords=howells+requiem

[EdgeleyRob]

BeefO,it's one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear.
The recording highlighted by Petrushka is perfect.

[Stanfordian]

I have this recording:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Howells-Requ...owells+requiem

Hello Petrushka, Yes that's a good shout. The Howells release is one of the stars of the Naxos catalogue.

[Petrushka]

BeefO,it's one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear.
The recording highlighted by Petrushka is perfect.

What's more the sound is the best organ/choir sound I've ever heard. In fact, I think I'll play it now.

[Roehre]

I have this recording:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Howells-Requ...owells+requiem

An excellent recording, and, on top of that, coupled with IMO one of the most moving of all Howells' choral pieces, Taking him Earth, for cherishing, a motet written in grief following the death of his son, and reworked after the assassination of JFKennedy.

[Beef Oven!]

It's a very beautiful piece (I think), which had a rather chequered history. Withheld by the composer for many years, it was IIRC only first published and performed in the 1980s. It shares some material with Hymnus Paradisum.

It's not an easy sing and that combined with its delayed performance and publication have contributed to its being somewhat overlooked, although it seems to be receiving more performances and recordings now.

I haven't heard all the recordings but Corydon Singers/Matthew Best on Helios is certainly recommendable.

Thank you. 1980? Well that sheds light on why it may be 'overlooked'. Even 'The Lambeth Walk' is not an easy sing for me, so I'll pass over that bit!

[Beef Oven!]

BeefO,it's one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear.
The recording highlighted by Petrushka is perfect.

I should have guessed that you would love this work, Rob.

[gurnemanz]

I decided to acquire this work about a year ago. The Regis disc reviewed here appealed to me because I had also been meaning to get to know the Duruflé. The disc is excellent, well-filled, and for skinflints v cheap (£3.76 incl p&p). There seem to be several good versions to consider: Naxos, as mentioned + Hyperion and Chandos - none of which I know.

[teamsaint]

Thank you. 1980? Well that sheds light on why it may be 'overlooked'. Even 'The Lambeth Walk' is not an easy sing for me, so I'll pass over that bit!

I'm on a CD buying ban , self imposed, ATM, but I just broke it, and ordered the Naxos Howells !!

PS, Beefy, I have done a bit of singing in my time. we could meet up on the southbank for a singing lesson sometime if you like. We could start with " Oh When the Saints".......

[Rolmill]

It's a lovely and very moving piece, and as Gurnemanz says

There seem to be several good versions to consider

I have four, all IMO recommendable: the Naxos already (rightly) praised, the more mature-sounding and resonantly recorded Finzi Singers on Chandos, the beautifully sung but perhaps slightly blander Cambridge Singers (Collegium) and, my favourite, the exquisite Vasari Singers (well coupled with the Frank Martin Mass, originally on United but re-released on Signum).

You wouldn't go far wrong with any of these, IMO.

[ahinton]

PS, Beefy, I have done a bit of singing in my time. we could meet up on the southbank for a singing lesson sometime if you like. We could start with " Oh When the Saints".......

Et peut-être M. Lebœuf could, as a rejoinder, respond with his rendering of my setting of Robert Frost's The Oven Bird (though it far better suits a soprano than a tenor).

I'm no great fan of Howells, sad to say but, as far as his sacred choral works are concerned, the one that really stands out from the rest for me is Missa Sabrinensis, which is emphatically far from being the "Severn Bore" as which his near-contemporary Sorabji once quite unforgivably (in my opinion) described it...

[Beef Oven!]

I'm on a CD buying ban , self imposed, ATM, but I just broke it, and ordered the Naxos Howells !!

PS, Beefy, I have done a bit of singing in my time. we could meet up on the southbank for a singing lesson sometime if you like. We could start with " Oh When the Saints".......

I'm also on a CD buying-ban and it's not going well!

I too have ordered the Naxos

[BBMmk2]

I have the Naxos, very good too. Looks like the Hyperion and Chandos needs a look at as well!! :)