COMPOSERS: Howells
LABELS: Chandos
WORKS: Sing Lullaby; Te Deum
PERFORMER: Andrew Lumsden (organ) Finzi Singers/Paul Spicer
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 9458
The Finzi Singers give inspired, radiant, evocative performances in clear, wide-perspective sound, of Howells’s smaller, mostly liturgical, choral gems ranging across the span of his career. They demonstrate Howells’s supreme craftsmanship, invention and versatility. Swirling snow in a still, chill landscape is caught, graphically, in Sing Lullaby (one of three exquisite Carol-Anthems) yet set against the warm radiance of the nativity. The contrasting and demanding Te Deum – for St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol – is awesomely dramatic and, appropriately, suggestive of surging seas and lashing winds. Howells’s high arching sonorities are brilliantly caught in Behold O God Our Defender, and the setting of Walter De La Mare’s The Scribe, in tribute to Vaughan Williams, is very beautiful. A confident recommendation. Ian Lace
Howells: Sing Lullaby; Te Deum
The Finzi Singers give inspired, radiant, evocative performances in clear, wide-perspective sound, of Howells’s smaller, mostly liturgical, choral gems ranging across the span of his career. They demonstrate Howells’s supreme craftsmanship, invention and versatility. Swirling snow in a still, chill landscape is caught, graphically, in Sing Lullaby (one of three exquisite Carol-Anthems) yet set against the warm radiance of the nativity.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:07 pm