Gerald Finzi

Started by tjguitar, April 16, 2007, 02:08:51 PM

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vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 26, 2016, 05:21:11 AM
Thanks for your feedback, cilgwyn. I'll continue to give Bax a chance, but prefer Delius by a large margin. The problem I'm having with Bax is general lack of memorability in his music. There's just nothing for my ears to latch onto. In my earlier listening days, I liked Bax a good deal and found much to admire, but it's amusing how opinions can change over time. I still like a few of his chamber works a lot, though, and, of course, Spring Fire.
I much prefer Bax to Delius although I love 'In a Summer Garden' and the end of the underrated Requiem is very moving. I bought the Charles Groves box set recently which has a lot of Delius in it, including the fine North Country Sketches. So I will be listening to more Delius soon.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on April 26, 2016, 10:21:23 PM
I much prefer Bax to Delius although I love 'In a Summer Garden' and the end of the underrated Requiem is very moving. I bought the Charles Groves box set recently which has a lot of Delius in it, including the fine North Country Sketches. So I will be listening to more Delius soon.

Perhaps if I ever unlock the secrets to Bax, I'll end up preferring him to Delius as well, but, right now, Bax has an uphill struggle. ;)

Karl Henning

(With apologies for protracting the parenthesis...) A conductor friend has always spoken highly of Tintagel.  When I told him that I've sprung for a CD (which has not arrived yet), he pointed me to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/v/B3lPDkk-8Mk
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
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nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vandermolen

Quote from: karlhenning on April 27, 2016, 04:06:58 AM
(With apologies for protracting the parenthesis...) A conductor friend has always spoken highly of Tintagel.  When I told him that I've sprung for a CD (which has not arrived yet), he pointed me to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/v/B3lPDkk-8Mk
Thanks for posting this Karl. Sounds like a wonderful performance of Bax's best known work.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

calyptorhynchus

I see from their website that on 1 September Naxos intend to release a Finzi 8 cd set. Presumably this is the eight CDs of his music they have already published.
People should check this out, if you don't have any of these recordings they would probably be cheaper than buying them separately, and there are some great recordings amongst them, especially the songs sung by Roderick Williams and others.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Maestro267

Bumping this thread as tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of Finzi's death. A particularly moving anecdote is how he listened to a broadcast of his Cello Concerto (one of his last completed works) from his bed on the night before he died.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Maestro267 on September 26, 2016, 11:35:52 AM
Bumping this thread as tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of Finzi's death. A particularly moving anecdote is how he listened to a broadcast of his Cello Concerto (one of his last completed works) from his bed on the night before he died.

His Cello Concerto must be counted as one of the great masterpieces written for that instrument.

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 26, 2016, 12:10:33 PM
His Cello Concerto must be counted as one of the great masterpieces written for that instrument.

Yes I agree, although 'Dies Natalis' is Finzi's masterpiece I think. The Wilfred Brown, Christopher Finzi version is best of all.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Maestro267

I'd forgotten how wonderful Intimations of Immortality is. The introduction, with its widely-spaced, RVW-like chords in the strings, is beautiful.

Listening now to the Cello Concerto, with its dramatic start (complete with tam-tam strike) and its lovely slow movement.

calyptorhynchus

Does anyone have access to the score of Finzi's A Severn Rhapsody. I want to know what the first woodwind instrument is that plays (right at the beginning). I have an idea it might be an oboe d'amore.  :)
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

calyptorhynchus

And another thing, I had my obligatory listen to Finzi last night, including Nocturne: New Year Music. It occurred to me that I had never heard a performance of Dies Natalis with a soprano, so I downloaded the Susan Gritton Chandos performance. Unfortunately it's not very good, firstly it's badly balanced so Gritton seems at times to fighting to be heard over the orchestra, which is the exact opposite of what you want—the voice floating ethereally above a subdued orchestra. Secondly I don't like the quality of Gritton's voice, which sounds rather strangled, meaning the words aren't clear and it makes you feel tense listening to it. Back to Wilfred Brown.

There's doesn't seem to be another recording of DM with a soprano.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

calyptorhynchus

There is a good performance of Dies Natalis with a soprano: Valdine Anderson with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra on the CBC label. She has a beautiful voice, the words are very clear and the balance between the orchestra and soloist is just right.

Thank goodness.

(I can't vouch for the rest of the disk as I only downloaded DM, but the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra are a very good ensemble. I have a great recording of theirs of Grace Williams' Sea Sketches).
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

cilgwyn

Quote from: Guido on October 23, 2007, 04:23:05 PM
Listening to Lo, the full, final sacrifice. May have my favourite beginning (or rather where the choir come in), and ending (that final Amen) of any piece that I know. The whole thing is glorious, and to my mind the greatest example of his choral writing. Stephen Banfield, Finzi's Biographer, thinks that the opening page of organ music is the finest thing that Finzi ever wrote, despite Finzi claiming to dislike the intrument.

I adore this piece.
Going through the Finzi thread,because I've just been enjoying the Wilfred Brown recording of Dies natalis,I found this post. Yes,I liked that the first time I heard it on the radio. I remember taping it. I like the way it begins too.....and ends. I love the whole atmosphere of the piece. VW's Five Mysical Songs is on the same cd,in this collection. Another favourite! And not forgetting the Holst. A wonderful collection from emi's glory years. They don't even seem to exist as a brand name now! :( By the way,someone was saying they didn't like VW's Flos Campi on this Forum. That's a favourite of mine! >:( ;D


vandermolen

Quote from: cilgwyn on June 06, 2017, 03:45:45 AM
Going through the Finzi thread,because I've just been enjoying the Wilfred Brown recording of Dies natalis,I found this post. Yes,I liked that the first time I heard it on the radio. I remember taping it. I like the way it begins too.....and ends. I love the whole atmosphere of the piece. VW's Five Mysical Songs is on the same cd,in this collection. Another favourite! And not forgetting the Holst. A wonderful collection from emi's glory years. They don't even seem to exist as a brand name now! :( By the way,someone was saying they didn't like VW's Flos Campi on this Forum. That's a favourite of mine! >:( ;D


That's a terrific boxed set cilgwyn - I like every work on it. I like Flos Campi. The combination of Five Mystical Songs and Dies Natalis with Holst's Psalm is wonderful.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

cilgwyn

And lo,there was a Finzi thread!! ??? :o

Oates

My favourite Finzi work is A Severn Rhapsody which was a blank on the CD map for years until the Naxos appeared. I was disappointed with this version - I thought the earlier Lyrita / Boult version that did finally emerge on CD was much better. It is worth noting that I also heard a very good recording of A Severn Rhapsody by Richard Hickox about 20 years ago which was a BBC session.

vandermolen

Quote from: Oates on August 09, 2017, 03:56:30 AM
My favourite Finzi work is A Severn Rhapsody which was a blank on the CD map for years until the Naxos appeared. I was disappointed with this version - I thought the earlier Lyrita / Boult version that did finally emerge on CD was much better. It is worth noting that I also heard a very good recording of A Severn Rhapsody by Richard Hickox about 20 years ago which was a BBC session.
That Boult CD is terrific.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Omicron9

Great thread.  I love his Cello Concerto, but originally discovered him through "Eclogue."  What an amazing piece to me, and on multiple levels.  If you don't know it, allow me to introduce you.

https://www.youtube.com/v/EkQbzZgwfl0
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71 dB

Eclogue blew me away when I heard the first time. A gem!  0:)
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vandermolen

Quote from: 71 dB on August 23, 2017, 09:30:35 AM
Eclogue blew me away when I heard the first time. A gem!  0:)
Yes, a great work.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).