Скачать или смотреть Rhapsody No 1 in D flat - Herbert Howells. David Briggs at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC

Rhapsody No 1 in D flat (1919) - Herbert Howells (1892-1983). David Briggs at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC

‘I have composed out of sheer love of trying to make nice sounds’.

The son of a decorator, Herbert Howells was born in humble circumstances in rural Gloucestershire, and became an articled pupil to my predecessor-but-two at Gloucester Cathedral, Sir Herbert Brewer, before becoming a student of Parry and Stanford at the Royal College of Music. He particularly loved Gloucester Cathedral, with its unique acoustic and its then smooth Harrison & Harrison organ. There is a story that Howells was having a composition lesson in Brewer’s study and the front door bell rang. Brewer re-emerged with none less a figure than Sir Edward Elgar, and the latter suggested to the young Howells a way to avoid some consecutive fifths, in his harmony exercise. It may be an apocryphal tale, but I still love it.

Behind Howells’ outstanding compositions and career in the ‘establishment’ lay a hugely sensitive character, the overwhelming death of his nine-year old son, and a consequent forty-year period of mourning. Howells is most well known today for his church and organ music, but his earlier chamber music, piano concertos etc are quite amazing, and show how much he loved French music of the time.

The First Rhapsody, composed in the immediate aftermath of World War One, is a very typical example of his beautiful organ writing - a broad arch shape, with a cataclysmic climax at the apex. I am sure it is the type of piece he might have improvised, as a young Assistant to Sir Walter Alcock at Salisbury Cathedral.

I think it sounds rather beautiful on the Walker digital instrument we are currently using at St John the Divine, while our famous Aeolian-Skinner Opus 150A is out for cleaning and restoration. I do hope you enjoy it! 😎