Born in Birmingham in 1898, Dorothy Howell studied at the Royal Academy of Music, enjoying some measure of success in the years immediately following the First World War (Sir Henry Wood was so taken with her tone-poem Lamia that he performed it on successive evenings during the 1919 Queen’s Hall Proms). Howell taught at her alma mater from 1924 until her retirement in 1970. She died aged 83 and is buried next to Elgar at St Wulstan’s, Malvern. From the present, generous programme, I was impressed most by the Five Studies for piano and Cobbett Prize-winning Phantasy for violin and piano from 1921. By their side, both sonatas perhaps strike a more conventional note, though there’s no denying their good taste and unfailing polish. First-class performances and production-values make the best possible case for Howell’s cause.

The companion Epoch disc was my second encounter with the music of Cecilia McDowall (I reviewed chamber and piano compositions on Deux-Elles, 10/02) and again I was struck by its powers of communication and easy grace. I especially enjoyed the grateful setting of the Magnificat (a 2003 centenary commission for the Finchley Choral Society) and exuberant Yuletide cantata Christus natus est, but all the works here are both deftly conceived and approachable; they should find a wide audience. George Vass’s sympathetic guidance inspires eager, zestful performances; and Tony Faulkner’s engineering is superbly truthful. Well worth seeking out.