Proms 2012 Prom 61: Howells & Elgar by Howells, Herbert, Elgar, Ó (2012/2012), Seoltóir Martyn Brabbins, Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

Following his triumphant conducting of Havergal Brian’s ‘The Gothic’ Symphony last year, Martyn Brabbins brings another British magnum opus to the Proms. Herbert Howells wrote Hymnus Paradisi ‘for the drawer’ in the wake of the tragically early death of his son. Only years later was he persuaded to release a finished score to the public. After this light-filled memorial from a composer closely identified with Gloucester Cathedral, we revisit the masterpiece that, in 1908 – the year of the first London Olympics – announced a Worcester man’s arrival as perhaps the greatest of British symphonists.