Herbert Howells is best known, even in Britain, for his cathedral-style choral works from later in his life, written after the death of his nine-year-old son from polio. But he deserves not to be put in this box, and this collection of chamber pieces gives an example of the riches that are missed by doing so. All three works have their origins in the 1910s, although two were extensively revised later, the String Quartet No. 3 ("In Gloucestershire") because Howells left the manuscript on a train and later reconstructed it ...
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Herbert Howells is best known, even in Britain, for his cathedral-style choral works from later in his life, written after the death of his nine-year-old son from polio. But he deserves not to be put in this box, and this collection of chamber pieces gives an example of the riches that are missed by doing so. All three works have their origins in the 1910s, although two were extensively revised later, the String Quartet No. 3 ("In Gloucestershire") because Howells left the manuscript on a train and later reconstructed it from memory. The String Quartet No. 3 is a real crowd-pleaser. The adjective "pastoral" could be applied to it, but you are several fields away from Vaughan Williams here; Howells' writing is compact and shows a good deal of influence from Debussy. Sample the arresting melody at the beginning of the first movement and the role of the feathery accompanimental figure in the transition to the second subject group (starting at about the one-minute mark). The Piano Quartet in A major, Op....
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