Search - Herbert Howells, Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia :: Howells: Music for Strings

Herbert Howells (1892-1985) was a British composer who took after many of his contemporaries--Walton, Bax, Arnold and a bit of recidivist Vaughan Williams. The Concerto for String Orchestra (1938) is a lucid, if willowy showcase for strings. Howells's "Elegy for Solo Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra" (1917) has many tonal parallels to the music of Vaughan Williams of the same period. You can almost hear the same folk sources for some of the melodies, though Howells, to his credit, has a more even temperament and is much less melancholy. The Suite for String Orchestra (1938) is probably Howells's clear masterpiece. --Paul Cook