Howells: Requiem; Vaughan Williams: Mass in Gm
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Even the manner and structure of the performing forces--double choir, a cappella--clearly indicates that Vaughan Williams's venerable Mass in G Minor, premiered in 1922, is a throwback, perhaps to Bach, Gabrieli, or one of the great 16th-century English masters. In fact, there are many influences at work in this fusion of ancient chant style and austere modal harmony with a more modern, expansive structural concept. The writing style elicits a characterful confidence typical of much of Vaughan Williams's music--born of early 20th century English colonial pride and the remnants of 19th-century Romanticism. The younger Howells composed his Requiem in 1936, and although it's often reminiscent--especially in its harmonic style--of Vaughan Williams, it reaches much further while imparting a deep emotional power. The Requiem Aeternam movements are exquisite. --David Vernier
Howells: Requiem; Vaughan Williams: Mass in Gm, Music, Jonathan Best, Herbert Howells, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Matthew Best, Michael Chance, Thomas Trotter, Janet Coxwell, Mary Seers, Philip Salmon, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Motet, Requiem/Requiem Section, Romantic Mass, Te Deum
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