Title: Extraordinary English choral music
Review: This was the debut recording of the Requiem of Herbert Howells (1892-1983), paired with a sensitive recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' (1872-1958) Mass in G Minor. Howells initially wrote his Requiem in memory of his son Michael who had tragically died in 1935 (at the age of nine) of spinal meningitis. It is an intensely personal and intimately expressive work which was essentially kept from publication until 1980. It is interesting to note that this recording was completed in February 1983, less than two weeks before the composer himself died at the age of 90. The other Howells piece featured is the less well-known Take Him Earth for Cherishing, which he was commissioned to write in memoriam following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was premiered in 1964. Matthew Best and the Corydon Singers have provided what is in my estimation the definitive recording of this deeply moving Requiem.
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