To me, this is one of the most sublime, mystical carols that we sang during the "Feast of Lights" Christmas ceremonies at the University of Redlands. It is a glowing example of the use of crescendo/decrescendo that our director, J. William Jones, taught us when we sang for him in the University Choir. Also, another of his techniques here is the periodic individual crescendo of beautiful inner voices as in the closing bars of the carol's "winter's night" phrase. He then alternately brings out the alto and then soprano lines. You can really feel the ending "cold, cold" chill of the natal night in this beautiful anthem.
Rod Stephens
From Phillip Cooke's blog:
"On Herbert Howells’s ‘A Spotless Rose’…
A Spotless Rose is one of Howells’s most well-known and enduring works, a tender, if somewhat slight unaccompanied choral piece that encompasses much of Howells’s early choral writing. It is beautiful yet understated, succinct yet not laconic, poised but not mannerist – a triumph of poignant and powerful word setting. The piece was written in 1919 and is one of the Three Carol-Anthems, a set which includes the equally melodious Here is the little door and Sing Lullaby, but it is A Spotless Rose that stands out amongst the others. It is a simple setting of the anonymous fifteenth-century poem about Jesus’ birth and the purity of Mary, and the naivety of the words seem to give Howells the springboard to create something that appears the model of simplicity on the surface, but hides a deeper complexity."
