Herbert Howells: Piano Music, Vol. 2

Matthew Schellhorn (piano)

In the first volume of this series (Naxos 8571382), Matthew Schellhorn surveyed six decades of Herbert Howells’ compositions for the piano. This second volume reprises the journey, tracing the composer’s stylistic development from the charming poetic miniatures of his youth through to the resonant modal quirkiness of his later dances. The survey includes a centrally important work, the Sonatina of 1971, performed here in Schellhorn’s own edition compiled from the manuscript sources, which includes variants not heard for half a century.

Comme le cerf soupire; The Arab's Song; To a wild Flower; Romance; Melody; Legend; The chosen Tune; Country Pageant; A little Book of Dances; A Sailor Tune; 3 Tunes; Minuet for Ursula; Promenade for Girls; Promenade for Boys; Quasi Menuetto "Et nunc, et semper"; Sonatine für Klavier