String Quartet No.3 (In Gloucestershire)

Herbert Howells (1892-1983) was an English composer and teacher, perhaps best known for his choral music in the Anglican tradition.

His String Quartet No.3 (In Gloucestershire) has a somewhatchequered history: originally finished in 1916, the only copy of the score was left on a train and lost forever! In the 1920s, Howells rewrote the work, incorporating the themes he could remember from the original, butlarge sections of it had to be created from scratch.

Howells was unable to serve in the Great War due to ill health, and this quartet provides a fascinating insight into how he reacted to the turmoil andaftermathof the conflict. The title suggests it was inspired by the Cotswold landscape of which he was fond; this is indeed the case, but it is haunted by the memories of departed friends with whom the landscape had once beenshared.