The House of the Mind

This is a beautiful way to showcase English composer Herbert Howells’ often under-appreciated genius. The Choir of the Queen’s College, Oxford perform a mix of Howells’ choral works alongside music by two of his great influences, Charles Stanford and Vaughan Williams. But the real interest here lies in composers who have used Howells’ otherwordly, ethereal musical language as raw material for their own styles, including Patrick Hadley (“My Beloved Spake”), John Scott (“Behold O God our Defender”) and choral composer David Bednall whose three very Howellsian works receive their world premieres on this richly tangy collection.