Favourite Howells' Canticles

[ardcarp]

By popular demand (well, from Caliban anyway ) I'm starting this thread so people can put their favourite Howells Canticles in order of preference. I think the inspiration was hearing the Westminster Mag beautifully sung from St John's on Advent Sunday. The Mags and Nuncs seem to be best-known so maybe we could focus on those. I admit with shame that I don't actually know how many of the sets dedicated to Cathedrals and Colleges include the Morning Canticles...and the Coll Reg Te Deum is the only one I can think of at the moment. So maybe a sub-group could include those?

I'll start off with:

1. St Paul's
2. Gloucester
3. Coll Reg

[mopsus]

My very favourite is St Paul's - I love singing those huge sweeping lines. After that in no order - I am also like some of you a fan of the Westminster setting. And I like the B minor setting with the melismas. And Gloucester.

I'll give an honourable mention to the St Augustine's Birmingham setting which I heard on a broadcast years ago and was intrigued by.

You didn't ask about un-favourite settings but I've sung 10 or so Howells M+ND settings and some of them do blur into one another after a while. In particular the New College setting just seems to ramble on. If someone can put in a good word for it, I'd be interested to hear what its merits are.

[Nick Armstrong]

1. St Paul's
2. Gloucester
3. Coll Reg

That would have been my order too until yesterday - now I'd add Westminster, probably at 3.

The Coll Reg Te Deum and Jubilate are in a league of their own, as far as I'm concerned, and Desert Island fodder above all the evening services, probably.

[Pulcinella]

Fans of Howells might not be aware of these recordings.

http://prioryrecords.co.uk/index.php?route=product/search&search=Howells%20complete

My own top three would probably be
Gloucester
Coll Reg
St Paul's
but I too have to listen to the Westminster setting, after all the comments in the St John's Advent thread.

[ardcarp]

Fans of Howells might not be aware of these recordings.

http://prioryrecords.co.uk/index.php...lls%20complete

Just had a quick look at the tracks on this 5 CD series, and all the Morning Canticles seem to be in Vols 4 and 5.
It seems he pulled out all the stops for KCC because there are, in addition, settings of the 'ordinaries' of the Communion Service.

[Miles Coverdale]

Just had a quick look at the tracks on this 5 CD series, and all the Morning Canticles seem to be in Vols 4 and 5.
It seems he pulled out all the stops for KCC because there are, in addition, settings of the 'ordinaries' of the Communion Service.

Coll. Reg. has long been my favourite of Howells' morning and evening canticles. It's a shame that the communion service is such a poor relation. I have to agree with #2 about the New College setting, which is highly unmemorable. I sang it half a dozen times, and every time it felt like sight-reading. Both the Hereford and Worcester settings are nice enough, though rarely done, it would seem.

[DracoM]

St Paul's - no contest.

[Philip]

Its interesting that most of the popular Howells canticle settings are from the 1944-1960 period, beginning with Coll Reg Te Deum and then the Evening Canticles. Later ones are more rarified, earlier ones not quite Howells as we know him (eg. the G major which we heard on Evensong a few weeks back). The Coll Reg communion was added about 10 years after the canticles I think, and IMO doesn't quite stand up to them as it attempts to recycle musical material, although the Gloria has some fine moments.

I think its difficult to argue that Gloucester, Coll Reg and St Paul's are the top three of the evening settings. For me the Gloucester comes on top because it is the gift that just keeps on giving - one magical moment after another, and indeed its my favourite setting by anyone. The other two are both very fine, I think I would give St Paul's the edge because of its epic scale and sweeping lines but it frequently changes.

Below that is a 'B' list of settings which I enjoy, including
Westminster (probably top of this list, love that final cadence as it finally comes to rest on the F# major chord!)
St John's
G major (I always think of this as Stanford plus, but love the end of the Mag Gloria, almost like something from the West End!)
B minor
Worcester

The Coll Reg Te Deum is magnificent, shame so few places do Mattins so its not heard as much as it might be.

Christmas isn't complete without 'A Spotless Rose' somewhere, especially for that final cadence! Legend goes that Patrick Hadley used to send Howells a postcard every Christmas on which he had copied out this cadence and added the words ‘Oh Herbert, that cadence!’

[ardcarp]

Christmas isn't complete without 'A Spotless Rose' somewhere

True, but Here is the Little Door does it for me, especially at "and Oh such tiny feet". It stops just short of sentimentality, but not short enough to prevent a tear welling up each time I hear it. Love NCO/Higginbottom's recording of it.

[Vox Humana]

St Paul's
Gloucester
Coll Reg
Westminster Abbey
Winchester
B minor
Chichester
Hereford
Magdalen College

Ask me again tomorrow and the order will probably be different. As for morning services, the Te Deum for St Mary Redcliffe and the Jubilate for St Peter ad Vincula are both wonderful, as is the Te Deum for St George's, Windsor (the Benedictus lets this one down a bit, but not nearly enough to justify the neglect it gets). You may gather that I'm quite a fan of Howells's third period.

[Chris Watson]

Anyone know the West Riding Te Deum? I found a copy in a pile of music in my Dad's study. Rather fine, though I've only played through it on the piano.

[Vox Humana]

Anyone know the West Riding Te Deum? I found a copy in a pile of music in my Dad's study. Rather fine, though I've only played through it on the piano.

Yes indeed. Like most Howells, it's a fine and worthy piece (although I have to say that it wouldn't quite make my desert island selection - just my opinion ).

[Nick Armstrong]

Anyone know the West Riding Te Deum?

No! Good heavens! "On Ilkley Moor baht 'canticle" ...!

Would love to hear it sung.

He was a big figure in that part of the world, various aunts and other relations from Bradford, Leeds etc doted on him for his adjudication of their various choral endeavours.

[Pulcinella]

I imagine that many forumites were introduced to the music of Howells by the 1966 Willcocks Argo recording of the Coll Reg and St Paul's canticles (amongst other pieces), now part of the Willcocks Argo collection.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4788918

But for those who can live without the image on the cover, this recording also exists as a single CD (where it is coupled with some RVW) that Australian Decca Eloquence issued (after some badgering of which I was part):

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Australian%2BEloquence/ELQ4807409

(There is a small reproduction of the original cover inside!)
Perhaps because they were the first versions I heard, I preferred them to the later Cleobury recording, also for Argo:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Argo/4302052

The complete Priory set referenced above is useful, but they are not the versions of the 'famous' settings I turn to most. Which recordings do others have/listen to/recommend?
This Hyperion release also takes some beating:

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA66260

[underthecountertenor]


G major (I always think of this as Stanford plus, but love the end of the Mag Gloria, almost like something from the West End!)

YES! It bridges a gap between Saint-Saens (the climax of 'Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix' from Samson et Dalila) and Bernstein (and Star Trek).