Herbert Howells (1892–1983) was a leading figure in the English Musical Renaissance, a movement that bridged the late 19th and early 20th centuries and saw composers seeking to forge a new path for English music. Many of Howells’s compositions are written in the form of a rhapsody. It is worth noting that he lived through both world wars, and wrote various works during the conflicts, including those on this recording. In such an unstable geopolitical context, it is perhaps unsurprising that English composers sought new forms of expression that were not tied to traditional German models like sonata form. The rhapsody, with the formal and expressive freedom it afforded, provided fertile ground for expressing the complexity and tragedy of the 20th century.

The 3 Rhapsodies, op.17, were written in 1915 (no.1) and 1918 (the other two); although they can be defined as ‘youthful’ works (Howells was 26 when he completed them), their harmonic language already offers glimpses of maturity.

Howells’s Preludio ‘Sine nomine’, composed in 1940 and published in 1953 in the collection 6 Pieces for Organ, combines the ancient and the modern. Like many of his contemporaries, Howells was fascinated by the English Renaissance and the Tudor period in particular, and this influence is clear in his compositional style. Master Tallis’s Testament is a set of variations based on a vaguely Renaissance-sounding melody: indeed, the Tallis in the title is none other than Thomas Tallis (c.1505–1585), one of the most important 16th-century British composers. Saraband ‘in modo elegiaco’, completed in September 1945, is notable from a harmonic perspective for its juxtaposition of triads with no direct relationship between them. This free idiom generates a feeling of sadness, associated with a sort of emotional transfiguration that immerses the listener in an impressive atmosphere of contemplation.

The three Psalm-Preludes, op.32, were written between 1915 and 1916, although they were not published until 1932. They form part of Howells’s rhapsodic repertoire but, unlike the 3 Rhapsodies, op.17, these are inspired by the words of a few select psalms: Psalm 34:6 for the first, Psalm 37:11 for the second, and Psalm 23:4 for the third.