Celebrating the luminous choral legacy of English composer Herbert Howells (1892–1963), this album by The Rodolfus Choir under Ralph Allwood presents an eloquent survey of his sacred and part-song writing. With radiant harmonies, modal inflections, and soaring melodic lines, these works exemplify Howells’s distinctive Anglican choral style—at once intimate, devotional, and richly textured. The Rodolfus Choir’s clarity of ensemble and expressive phrasing bring fresh vitality to beloved gems such as A Spotless Rose and God Be in My Head, while the Collegium Regale Te Deum and Jubilate display Howells’s grandeur and architectural command in liturgical settings. A critically admired recording, it’s ideal for fans of English cathedral music, choral enthusiasts, and listeners seeking contemplative, beautifully crafted vocal artistry.

• Artist: The Rodolfus Choir; Composer: Herbert Howells; Conductor: Ralph Allwood
• Format: Audio CD
• Release Type: Album
• Genre: Classical, Choral, Sacred
• Label: Signum Classics

1. The Summer is Coming
2. Sweetest of Sweets
3. Sing Lullaby
4. One Thing Have I Desired
5. A Spotless Rose
6. Antiphon
7. Walking in the Snow
8. A Grace for 10 Downing Street
9. Here is the Little Door
10. God Be in My Head
11. Long, Long Ago
12. Te Deum (Collegium Regale)
13. Jubilate (Collegium Regale)
14. Magnificat (Dallas Canticles)
15. Nunc Dimittis (Dallas Canticles)
16. A Hymn for St Cecilia

• Release Date: 2010
• “From the very opening of the disc...the Rodolfus Choir, under the astute directorship of Ralph Allwood, capture Howells’s idiom perfectly.” — MusicWeb International (July 2011)

• Media: CD
• Packaging: Jewel case
• Dimensions/Weight: 14.33 x 0.86 x 12.62 cm; 117.93 g

Herbert Howells was a seminal English composer whose choral and organ music helped define the sound of 20th-century Anglican worship. Educated at the Royal College of Music, he studied with Charles Villiers Stanford and was influenced by Tudor polyphony, English folk modalities, and the acoustics of cathedral spaces. His writing is renowned for its radiant harmonies, expressive dissonance, and deeply felt lyricism, heard in masterpieces like the Collegium Regale canticles and the Requiem. Howells’s music remains central to British choral tradition and is cherished by choirs worldwide for its spiritual depth and luminous sonority.