I made this orchestral version of Howells’s perhaps most renowned Magnificat at the request of Novello, his principal publisher, for a concert given a few years ago by the Bach Choir and Philhamonia Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall during the period when the organ was out of action. Howells himself was happy to orchestrate his organ accompaniments, and the organ writing is full of orchestral clues, so it was not a hard task, and I hope the result would have met with his approval.
John
Head to BBC Radio 3 to hear Howells’s Magnificat (from the canticles he wrote for the chapel and choir of King’s College, Cambridge) in a concert to mark the retirement of Sir Stephen Cleobury, featuring the choirs with which he is associated. https://bbc.in/2YI9cML
Take a look at this new CD from King’s College: Herbert Howells Cello Concerto and An English Mass, also featuring Howells’s Te Deum and John Rutter’s orchestrated version of Magnificat.
More information about this CD