Composer
Dorothy Howell
was known as the English
Richard Strauss
in her day, but she has been almost completely forgotten. Even in an age where music by women is often being revived, conductor
Rebecca Miller
had to track this music down by visiting
Howell
's surviving relatives, and four of the five performances included are world premieres (the exception is the symphonic poem
Lamia
, based on a poem by
John Keats
).
Miller
and company can take credit for a fine rediscovery. The comparison to
Strauss
is most apt in that composer's comic music, and the shorter pieces here are the stronger ones. Hear the rhythmic liveliness of the first of the
Three Divertissements
of 1940, with a recurring use of castanets (or something that sounds like them) highlighting a deeper rhythm in the music. The opening
Humoresque
is in the same vein. There is much to admire as well in the three larger pieces;
traces the
Keats
poem in some detail, and
The Rock
, sure enough, is an effective Gibraltar travelogue. The
BBC Concert Orchestra
is ideal in this music, with a lightness that one of the standard symphony orchestras might not have achieved, and
is obviously an enthusiastic advocate. Physical album buyers will get a delightful note from her describing the circumstances of the music's rediscovery. This album made classical best-seller lists in early 2024. ~ James Manheim