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CT_Worcester

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  1. I thought I would add some comments by way of background. Herbert Howells received his musical education at Gloucester Cathedral in the early years of the twentieth century as a pupil of Dr Herbert Brewer. His sound world was heavily influenced by the ambience of that most beautiful of English Cathedrals and its organ (Father Willis 1889 / 99, with some alterations by Harrison & Harrison in 1920). For this music, therefore, you have to think large, resonant (at that time, the echo from full organ was ten seconds) Gothic places with magnificent stained glass. It is difficult to make Howells work in other environments. I heard Thomas Trotter play one of the Psalm Preludes at Birmingham Town Hall a few years ago. Right period and style of organ; sympathetic reading; wrong ambience. Interestingly enough, for the reasons given by Anthony Poole, I doubt that you could now play Howells successfully at Gloucester; the current organ, a magnificent instrument, is very different, for all that it incorporates much earlier pipework; it is now almost entirely neo-baroque in the RFH manner. There are recordings of the old organ around, though. There is a wonderful recording made by Dr Sumsion in the 1960s which includes some pieces by Howells (Great Cathedral Organs series, published by EMI).
  2. I've got Jennifer Bate's Intégrale, endorsed by Messaien himself. The set was recorded mostly at Beauvais Cathedral, although Messaien insisted on, I think, the Livre du Saint Sacrament being recorded at Saint-Trinité.
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