Master Tallis's Testament - Herbert Howells | St. Stephen's Uniting Church (Sydney CBD)
Recorded live in recital on Australia Day 2017.
Page turner was fellow Steemian @tormus1958.
St. Stephen's Uniting Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Organ specification
Herbert Howells was an English composer and organist whose compositional style continued on from the well-known English traditions of Sir Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams. During his lifetime, Howells was recognised with a CBE in 1953, made a Companion of Honour in 1972 and was also awarded a doctorate from Cambridge University (hc). Howells was sub-organist at Salisbury Cathedral in 1917 and a teacher at the Royal College of Music up until the late 1970s. In true English fashion, Howells’ pieces for organ were luscious in tone and full of expression and diatonic harmonies.
Master Tallis’s Testament was composed in 1940 and as the title suggests, is a work in honour of the great Thomas Tallis. England’s most important composer during the 16th Century, Tallis wrote a large amount of sublime liturgical music for both Catholic and Anglican ceremonies, and some of his hymn tunes were composed into new “homage” pieces by Howells’ contemporaries. Master Tallis’s Testament was compiled and published into the book titled “Six organ pieces” in 1953. The form of the piece is divided by a theme, two variations and a coda. The theme, or motif, of the piece is highlighted by a solo registration and appears in not just the manuals, but also the pedal. Each time the motif appears, Howells continues to add interest by use of modal harmonies, dissonance, lilting rhythms and expressiveness through registration and long flowing phrases.
Master Tallis’s Testament is probably his most famous organ work, or at least the most frequently played piece of the Howells repertoire. First time listeners of Master Tallis’s Testament should simply close their eyes and be transported to a large English Cathedral. This piece perfectly encapsulates the style associated with 20th Century English “pastoralist” music.
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