Herbert Howells is known chiefly for his church music, arguably the finest by any English composer of the twentieth century. Sir Patrick Spens, Howells� first attempt at writing a large-scale choral work, has received only one known performance until this recording. Hymnus paradisi was composed under heart-breaking circumstances following the death of the composer�s son, Michael, aged nine. As Howells later wrote: �The sudden loss of an only son � might impel a composer � to seek release and consolation in a language and terms most personal to him. Music may well have power � to offer that release and comfort. It did so in my case.� Throughout this deeply moving work, in which the human tragedy of a boy�s death and a father�s grief are enshrined, Howells� command of choral and orchestral polyphony is masterly.