This morning, Matthew Dirst offers a sonata from his recent recital tour: the E-Flat Trio of Johann Ludwig Kerbs (1713-1780), the student of J.S. Bach who, despite never having held a significant post […he was desperate enough at one point to take a job which paid in food…!], never being a ‘court’ composer, and having never been commissioned for a single piece, composed an excellent body of work – much admired today.

Herbert Howells (1893-1983) has a distinctive harmonic sound – identifiable here in his simple, ever-so-slightly-syncopated and lyrical setting of an intense Robert Bridges poem… You can hear in this setting how sympathetic Howells is to both voices and organists – writing perfectly tailored music for each.

In order to highlight the gospel lesson, the tenors and altos of the choir will intone the ‘cantus firmus’ from J. S. Bach’s delightful Advent cantata, BWV 140 – using the verse that directly sets the Biblical passage… The ‘cantus’ is, simply, the ‘structural song,’ or tune upon which the piece is based…

Though never an actual student of Howells, English composer and one-man industry John Rutter (b. 1945) never hesitates to appropriate elements of Howells’ style when it suits his own commercial purposes – this being a time-honored practice between composers, usually indicating a certain admiration… The ‘Clare Benediction’ was written on commission from Rutter’s undergraduate school, Clare College, Cambridge.

-Keith Weber