Sublime Beauty

'... glorious choral textures ...'

Herbert Howells is one of those English composers whose importance is still very much underrated. Born in 1892 in Lydney, Gloucestershire, Howells showed early promise and he soon became a pupil of Herbert Brewer at Gloucester Cathedral. From 1912 until 1916 he studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Stanford and Charles Wood, and his career as a musician of substance soon started to take shape. Outstanding as a composer and teacher, he held professorships at both the Royal College of Music and London University, and succeeded Gustav Holst as director of music at St Paul's Girls School in Hammersmith...