In the early 1980s, I was lucky enough to sing evensong four times a week with the Chapel Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge. It was always a thrill whenever we performed the music of Herbert Howells (1892-1983). His ethereal harmonies seemed to float into the chapel’s high spaces with spine-tingling intensity, often supported by an organ at full tilt. I was particularly fond of the anthem Like as the Hart; its melodic arc matching perfectly the telling verse “my soul is a-thirst for God”. Howells longed for a God who touched hearts rather than minds, yet, beyond the confines of his aesthetic imagination, his God often eluded him altogether.