Guy Johnston and the Britten Sinfonia perform the second movement of the Howells Cello Concerto, in this video from Matthew Carkeek.

Herbert Howells (1892-1983) was a British composer who is renowned not only for his church music, but his chamber and orchestral works written around the First World War. He began sketches for the cello concerto in 1933 and continued working on the piece as a way to deal with the death of his nine-year-old son, Michael, who died of polio in 1935.

Johnston will appear with the Britten Sinfonia in its upcoming tour in the UK and Ireland from 9 to 20 February 2024, where he will perform John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil. Find out more here: https://www.brittensinfonia.com/events/the-protecting-veil

Read: ‘It’s a powerful experience to perform the cycle’: cellist Guy Johnston on Beethoven Cello Sonatas

Read: ‘The piece depicts the war in all its brutality’: cellist Gabriel Schwabe on Bridge Cello Concerto ‘Oration’

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