Composer of the Week - Herbert Howells - Love and Despair

Herbert Howells (1892–1983) 2/5. Love and Despair The loss of his nine-year-old son Michael to a sudden illness in 1935 cast a lifelong shadow across Howells's music. Donald Macleod explores how music became a release valve for the bereft composer and we also hear Howells's own thoughts on one of the works directly inspired by his son's death. The Chosen Tune Margaret Fingerhut (piano) Sing Lullaby Polyphony Stephen Layton (conductor) Green Ways: Under the greenwood tree; Wanderer's Night Song; On the merry first of May Yvonne Kenny (soprano) London Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox (conductor) All my hope on God is founded John Rutter (descant) Philip Scriven (organ) Winchester Cathedral Choir David Hill (director) Requiem (1st mvt) Corydon Singers Matthew Best (conductor) De profundis (Psalm Prelude Set 2 No 1) Stephen Cleobury (organ of King's College, Cambridge) Concerto for Strings (final mvt) City of London Sinfonia Richard Hickox (conductor) Magnificat (St Paul's Service) Choir of St Paul's Cathedral Christopher Dearnley (organ) John Scott (conductor).