Choir of Merton College, Oxford - Ian Venables: Requiem - Herbert Howells: Anthems for Choir & Orchestra (2022) [24/96]

Conductor Benjamin Nicholas draws parallels between the familiar English choral sound of Howells and that of contemporary composer Ian Venables. Venables’ Requiem has already been warmly received by critics in a 2020 recording with just organ accompaniment. Now, Nicholas and his Merton College choir present it in an orchestrated version made specially for this recording. The Howells items here are also premiere recordings: new instrumental accompaniments to two of his Four Anthems, in arrangements by Howells scholars Howard Eckdahl and Jonathan Clinch, illuminate and intensify his rich choral writing like back-lighting on a stained-glass window, and they are complemented by the first recording of Howells’ original orchestration of The House of the Mind – a chance to hear one of his major underperformed works, introspective yet dramatic.

"Ian Venables’s Requiem was well-received at its 2019 premiere, as was the recording which quickly followed [Gloucester Cathedral Choir, SOMMCD 0618]. Originally conceived for choir and organ, the Requiem is here presented in new clothes: an orchestral version tailored specially for this CD which adds further colour and texture to the piece. One is reminded of the example of Duruflé’s Requiem and its different versions, even more so when Venables’s composition employs modal harmony and modally inflected melody like Duruflé. By turns moving and consoling to the living, Venables’s Requiem here receives a superb rendition from Benjamin Nicholas and his Oxford forces, ever responsive to the composer’s emotional trajectory through the liturgical text. Nicholas also shows his mettle as an organist in Venables’s Rhapsody. The Howells anthems, also appearing in orchestral guise, brings these works into fresh perspective. Throughout, the mixed voices of the Merton College Choir sing their hearts out for Nicholas, well balanced, well-tuned and well-drilled. A thoroughly admirable release."

Tracklist:
01. Four Anthems: I. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Orchestrated by Jonathan Clinch)
02. Four Anthems: III. Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks (Orchestrated by Howard Eckdahl)
03. Three Motets for Choir and Organ: II. The House of the Mind
04. Requiem, Op. 48: I. Introit (Requiem aeternam)
05. Requiem, Op. 48: II. Kyrie
06. Requiem, Op. 48: III. Offertorium
07. Requiem, Op. 48: IV. Pie Jesu
08. Requiem, Op. 48: V. Sanctus
09. Requiem, Op. 48: VI. Agnus Dei
10. Requiem, Op. 48: VII. Libera me
11. Requiem, Op. 48: VIII. Lux aeterna
12. God be merciful, Op. 51
13. Rhapsody 'In memoriam Herbert Howells' Op. 25 (For Solo Organ)


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