Howells: The Winchester Service & other late works

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The performances of the Winchester Cathedral Choir are so good that you hardly register the need to 'assess' them - exactly as it should be in devotional music. That's a huge tribute to the state... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 31st May 2011
Catalogue No: CDA67853
Label: Hyperion
Length: 68 minutes

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Howells: Jubilate Deo 'St Peter ad Vincula'

Work length4:29

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: Thee will I love

Work length5:47

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: The Winchester Service

Work length10:25

$2.20

$3.00

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

I. Magnificat

Track length7:05

$1.10

$1.50

II. Nunc dimittis

Track length3:20

$1.10

$1.50

Howells: Rhapsody No 4

Work length6:52

$1.10

$1.50

Simon Bell (organ)

Howells: Come, my soul

Work length4:29

$1.10

$1.50

William Kendall (tenor)
Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: Te Deum (St Mary Redcliffe)

Work length12:02

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: Coventry Antiphon

Work length4:49

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: A Flourish for a Bidding

Work length3:20

$1.10

$1.50

Simon Bell (organ)

Howells: Antiphon

Work length4:03

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: The fear of the Lord

Work length5:46

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

Howells: Exultate Deo

Work length6:22

$1.10

$1.50

Winchester Cathedral Choir
Andrew Lumsden

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About

Hyperion’s previous recordings with Winchester Cathedral Choir are among the jewels in its choral collection. Now the label begins a new relationship with this ancient foundation and its latest director of music, Andrew Lumsden. Their new disc features a composer who was at the centre of the English twentieth-century choral tradition.

Herbert Howells’ is a unique and distinctive voice in church music and it is his lyrical anthem Like as the Hart and his compositions of the 1940s and 50s for which he is most known and celebrated. However, his late works are equal in beauty and intensity and it is these that are featured on this superb recording. They are often over-looked as a result of their difficulty but Winchester Cathedral Choir reveal them as unjustly neglected gems.

The Winchester Service, written in 1969, has its roots in plainchant and demonstrates the composer’s chromatic sophistication and the incredible depth of his harmonic palette. The choir display a clear affinity with the composer. They perform with sensitivity and precision and their glorious sound is quintessentially English.

Reviews

September 2011

The performances of the Winchester Cathedral Choir are so good that you hardly register the need to 'assess' them - exactly as it should be in devotional music. That's a huge tribute to the state of singing at the cathedral, and to Andrew Lumsden, whoe directs it. A marvellous CD, beautifully planned and executed.

August 2011

The line-up of boy choristers can compete in terms of strength and incision with the best among their cathedral and collegiate peers. Their tonal richness and compelling collective conviction, outstanding in Come, my Soul and Howells's virtuosic Te Deum, bear witness to a choral institution clearly on the rise...Winchester's assistant director of music, Simon Bell, also commands attention with bold, imaginatively voiced organ playing.

16th July 2011

What this CD underlines is that, for all their trickiness of execution, with a harmonic range from the archaic to the chromatic, these pieces are vintage Howells. And far from constituting “old man’s music”, works like Antiphon and Exultate Deo express a joyful vitality. The performances, conducted by Andrew Lumsden with organist Simon Bell, thrive on the radiant Winchester Cathedral acoustic.

September 2011

This is one of the most beautiful CDs of choral music you're likely to hear...the magnificent Winchester Cathedral Choir give performances of near-perfection that sound completely effortless...There's an ideal blend and balance between upper and lower voices, and the trebles have a warm, glowing brightness...Simon Bell provides impeccable accompaniments with intimate colouring. He also displays tremendous virtuosity in the two organ solos

July/August 2011

The Winchester Cathedral Choir is first-rate: intelligently responsive to texts, phrasing naturally shaped and with near flawless ensemble and dynamic control, all admirably demonstrated throughout...These are uniformly excellent performances and the recording quality is detailed yet superbly spacious.

29th May 2011

this recording by a radiant Winchester Cathedral Choir urges a thorough reappraisal [of the lesser-known works]. The long, fluid lines, startling cadences and massive chords which are so unique to Howells are all here in "their" service, and they delight in some smaller works, particularly "Thee Will I Love" from 1970, with Simon Bell adding some delicious organ solos.

Howells: The Winchester Service & other late works

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