Though it includes Howells's most famous Christmas carol and two of his best-known organ solos, the programme here has as its centre-piece the Missa aedis Christi, composed for Christ Church Cathedral in 1958, and relatively unfamiliar. The Latin title may be misleading, for these are settings in English for use in the Anglican service of Holy Communion. They are written in the usual four parts, and organ accompaniment is suggested (ad lib) in the two longest movements, the Credo and Gloria; it is also a fine work, and one would have thought highly attractive to cathedral choirs. Fine, for instance, is the feeling for the mystery of the Incarnation, and splendid in this performance is the sustaining of the long chord in ''whose kingdom shall have no end''. The first of the Psalm-Preludes for organ is interpolated between the Credo and Sanctus, and this is perhaps not such a good idea, for it has little kinship with the Mass in mood or period: at least, if it is to go anywhere it would be more aptly introduced before the Agnus Dei, which like the Prelude is sombre but not comfortless.
As with Vol. 1 (CRD (CD) CRDC3454, 3/90), Christopher Palmer contributes an excellent essay on the composer and commentary on the music. One of his remarks should be taken to heart: he refers to ''Howells's subtle use of rubato [as] one of the means whereby he creates an impression of controlled improvisation''. Now, the performances here are admirable in nearly every respect (the choir's tone, its shading and accuracy, the balance both internally and with the organ); but at the very start, the opening bars of the Coronation anthem, Behold, O God our defender, the playing is strict and literal, not quite speaking with the personal voice or catching the rapt, improvisatory, tone of utterance. And just slightly I felt this in the Psalm-Prelude also. Again, as in Vol. 1, the organ's tuning causes an occasional twinge (I don't think it's the tremolo that is responsible for that beat on the octaves near the end of the Prelude). But all else is fine, including the baritone, Henry Wickham, whose solo in A Spotless Rose is clear and supple, very much in the best tradition of college choirs.'