Frederick Howe is a British composer based in Buckinghamshire

My particular focus in composition has rested on two longstanding interests: songs for solo voice and church anthems.

For the first of these, I owe a debt to my late teacher and friend, Philip Hattey, visiting Professor of Singing at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Reading, who opened up for me the rich world of twentieth century English song in all its breadth.

I am similarly indebted to the late Marcus de la Poer Beresford, an accomplished composer in his own right, who, during my time at school, introduced me to the joys of choral music and to large swathes of the baroque, classical and twentieth century repertoire.

In approaching composition of whatever form, I have enjoyed the challenge, partly driven by practicalities, of achieving a worthwhile musical result with an economy of means. In more recent years I have taken a particular interest in how plainsong can be made to resonate in the writing of contemporary pieces for church performance.

My output has included commissioned church anthems; carols for choral performance; a children’s opera; and a varied range of settings of English and French poetry. In the latter context, my study of English folk song has resulted in two volumes of folk song arrangements for solo voice. A further volume is currently in preparation.
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SONGS BY WARLOCK AND HOWE

Recorded in the heart of the English countryside by recording engineer Oscar Torres this album weaves together complementary songs by Peter Warlock and Frederick Howe, performed by two exceptional young British artists in their debut recital disc together. In summer 2020, mezzo soprano Anna Harvey and pianist Mark Austin recorded compelling interpretations of Warlock classics, such as ‘Sleep’ and ‘Pretty Ring Time’ as well as three previously unrecorded compositions by Warlock, and nine world premiere recordings of English folk song arrangements by Frederick Howe. 

This album was released across all major platforms on the 24th June 2022, by Rubicon Classics.

You can read a review from The Gramophone HERE

Contact

For more information or enquiries about Frederick Howe's music, please get in touch via the Penn House Estate website:

www.pennhouse.org.uk​