HERBERT HOWELLS (1892-1983): Stabat Mater for Tenor, Chorus and Orchestra, Te Deum for Chorus and Orchestra, Sine nomine for Soprano, Tenor, Chorus and Orchestra.

Description: The Stabat Mater took six years for Howells to complete and, even though its dates are 1959-65), it is no less an anguished lament for his nine-year-old song than the 1938-50 Hymnus Paradisi. A highly chromatic harmonic idiom and complex choral writing pile anguish upon pain with much contrapuntal writing with only a hint of consolation at the very end of its nearly 50-minute span. For those of you who have the 1994 Chandos recording, we point out that, only a month before this recording, conductor Hill found score with entirely different tempo markings than the printed edition and he uses them here (cutting off around 3 minutes from the Chandos timing). The Te Deum (1944, orch. 1977) is bright and positive and the 12-minute Sine nomine of 1922 is a bright and clear mixture of impressionism and English pastoralism which uses wordless voices to lovely effect. Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Alison Hill (soprano), The Bach Choir, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; David Hill.