Gerald Finzi

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

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snyprrr

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on April 21, 2014, 01:24:04 PM
I've just finished listening to the complete Finzi song-cycles on the Naxos three-disc set with baritone Roderick Williams and tenor John Mark Ainslie.

"Sigh", the man was a genius, I can't think of any other song writer who combines such good choices of text and just melodic and harmonic wizardry. I suspect that if I was a German speaker I might say the same about several of the lieder writers, but as I can only "understand" the texts, ie not appreciate the level of language, the connotations and so forth, I can't really appreciate them to the same extent. The same would be the case with Nielsen and other Scandinavian song-writers.

Can anyone suggest other writers of songs in English that they think have Finzi's gift (I like Butterworth's songs, and VW's Songs of Travel, and some of Gurney's (though I prefer Finzi's setting of "Only the Wanderer"), and various disks of English folk-songs I have come across (inc Britten settings), but most other song-writers in English seem to be writers of art-songs rather than songs).

What are Finzi's Greatest Songs that I can YouTube?

Also, not English, but I hear that-Finzi-thing in Malipiero. I don't know which vocal piece to go for though (mostly Opera, but maybe the style... eh... mm... nevermind :-\)

calyptorhynchus

I don't know about greatest, but my favourites are:

So I have fared
Proud Songsters
A Young Man's Exhortation
Her Temple
At a Lunar Eclipse
The Self-unseeing
Channel Firing (all Hardy)

Only the Wanderer (Gurney)

Come away, Come away, Death
Fear no more the heat o'the Sun (Shakespeare)

Oh Fair to See (Christina Rossetti)

Since we Loved (Bridges)
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

calyptorhynchus



New disk by the Cologne Chamber Soloists of various Finzi peices including one new piece, and some new arrangements.

The new piece is a two-minute variation in a set of variations by various composers on a popular song, 'Diabellieries'. The other composers are Howard Ferguson, Alan Bush, Rawsthorne, Elizabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams and Gordon Jacob. Great fun, with Finzi's piece (written 1956) being another Forlana, other composers being themselves too (Elizabeth Lutyens doing her best not to be atonal and so forth :-) )

The Cologne Chamber Soloists  have some interesting views on Finzi, sometimes they play faster than we expect, sometimes they are slower and more reflective than English peformers (!). All well worth a listen, there is the arrangement for Clarinet and SQ of the 5 Bagatelles, a new arrangement of the Romance for String Orchestra for SQ which works really well. There are good performances of the Elegy for Vln and Paino, the Interlude for Oboe and SQ and the Prelude and Fugue for String Trio.

The only disppointing piece is Howard Ferguson's arrangement of the Introit for Vln and Orchestra (slow mov of Vln Conc). It's too brisk and matter-of-fact, and the piano reduction of the orchestra writing in the movement makes it sound silly.

But a must-buy for all Finiz lovers none the less.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Mirror Image

#123
Quote from: vandermolen on April 17, 2007, 02:19:33 AM
I think that the Lyrita CD of short orchestral works is the best Finzi CD I know (conducted by Boult)

Quite an old post I know, but I think this Boult recording is the best Finzi recording out there, too, Jeffrey. William Boughton has a nice one on Nimbus, but Boult really has the full measure of this music. As for the masterful Cello Concerto, I have always preferred Yo-Yo Ma here to Hugh and Wallfisch. I also think the accompaniment from Vernon Handley is the best I've heard. Miles ahead of Griffiths and Hickox.

Mirror Image

#124
I'll also add that after RVW, Elgar, and Delius that Finzi, Moeran, and Britten are my favorite Brits.

vandermolen

#125
Quote from: sanantonio on September 27, 2015, 04:25:03 AM
Today is the anniversary of his death.

Gerald Finzi : British composer



Finzi wrote two masterpieces - his Cello Concerto, completed in 1955 and his choral work Intimations of Immortality -a setting of words by William Wordsworth.  In 1951, however, Finzi learned that he was suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, a form of leukaemia, and was told he had between five and ten years to live. The discovery in no way lessened his activities, particularly those undertaken for other composers.  Finzi finally lost the fight against his illness and he died on September 27, 1956. His Cello Concerto was first broadcast the night before he died.


These are fine works but for me his masterpiece is 'Dies Natalis'; the recording with Wilfred Brown conducted by Christopher Finzi is the best. It was once coupled with Herbert Howell's choral masterpiece 'Hymnus Paradisi' - one of the great CDs of all time in my view.
This, more recent release, doesn't feature the Howells but is a wonderful disc:
[asin]B000005GSD[/asin]
"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).

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 18, 2016, 05:59:55 PM
I'll also add that after RVW, Elgar, and Delius that Finzi, Moeran, and Britten are my favorite Brits.
No Bax?  :(
"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 need to get around to listening to some Finzi again. It's been a while. I have two discs of his music; Dies Natalis and Intimations of Immortality on one (Hyperion), and the Cello Concerto, Eclogue and Grand Fantasia & Toccata on the other (Naxos).

Scion7

Quote from: vandermolen on April 18, 2016, 10:40:15 PM
No Bax?  :(

It's even worse than that - no Bliss, no Bowen  .... and Britten?? Ugh.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on April 18, 2016, 10:40:15 PM
No Bax?  :(

I own a lot of Bax, but I'm having a hard time connecting to his music. Any secrets to understanding the composer, Jeffrey?

Mirror Image

#130
Quote from: Scion7 on April 19, 2016, 02:05:47 AM
It's even worse than that - no Bliss, no Bowen  .... and Britten?? Ugh.

I guess the part where I said my favorite Brits didn't register with you? :-\ Anyway, I don't like Bliss or Bowen well enough to call them favorites.

vandermolen

#131
Quote from: Mirror Image on April 19, 2016, 06:04:25 AM
I own a lot of Bax, but I'm having a hard time connecting to his music. Any secrets to understanding the composer, Jeffrey?
It's not all great but I like all the symphonies, Symphonic Variations and many of the tone poems as well as the lovely Harp Quintet. Oddly enough one of my favourite Bax CDs is of lesser known orchestral works (see below). I'd be inclined, John, to start with symphonies 3 and 5 which are my favourites but you probably know these already:
[asin]B0000DIXS1[/asin]
The lovely Christmas Eve is available dirt cheap on Amazon UK with symphony 1 - a great disc:
[asin]B000025S2T[/asin]
So as not to derail the thread completely here is a new and very enjoyable Finzi CD although I don't like the way in which they have broken up the movements of 'Dies Natalis' and transposed the vocal part for the Saxophone. 'A Severn Rhapsody' is a beautiful work:
[asin]B016PP75C4[/asin]
"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).

Karl Henning

Quote from: vandermolen on April 19, 2016, 08:22:32 AM
It's not all great but I like all the symphonies, Symphonic Variations and many of the tone poems as well as the lovely Harp Quintet. Oddly enough one of my favourite Bax CDs is of lesser known orchestral works (see below). I'd be inclined, John, to start with symphonies 3 and 5 which are my favourites but you probably know these already:

[asin]B0000DIXS1[/asin]

What's Irravel, Jeffrey?
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vandermolen

Quote from: karlhenning on April 19, 2016, 08:40:04 AM
What's Irravel, Jeffrey?
Your wish is my command Karl ;D
I've fished out the CD:
Bax derived the name 'Irravel' from the Irish Gaelic, characterising the dancer as a 'fantastic dream impersonation of a reckless impossible mood or whim...at the close the music becomes more and more remote in mood and harmonically bizarre, as though the vision were gradually fading away.
Apparently the work anticipates 'La Valse' by Ravel, written several years later.
"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 19, 2016, 08:22:32 AM
It's not all great but I like all the symphonies, Symphonic Variations and many of the tone poems as well as the lovely Harp Quintet. Oddly enough one of my favourite Bax CDs is of lesser known orchestral works (see below). I'd be inclined, John, to start with symphonies 3 and 5 which are my favourites but you probably know these already:
[asin]B0000DIXS1[/asin]
The lovely Christmas Eve is available dirt cheap on Amazon UK with symphony 1 - a great disc:
[asin]B000025S2T[/asin]
So as not to derail the thread completely here is a new and very enjoyable Finzi CD although I don't like the way in which they have broken up the movements of 'Dies Natalis' and transposed the vocal part for the Saxophone. 'A Severn Rhapsody' is a beautiful work:
[asin]B016PP75C4[/asin]

Thanks for the recommendations, Jeffrey. I own all of Thomson's and Handley's Bax recordings (incl. both conductors' symphony cycles). I seem to remember preferring Thomson's symphony cycle over Handley. Thankfully, Handley recorded Spring Fire and this remains, for me, one of Bax's strongest works. There's a naturalness and flowing lyricism to this work that caught my ears as soon as heard it. The problem I'm having with Bax is his music tends to go in one ear and out the other, but I admittedly haven't given him a thorough listening session in about six years. I'm hankering to get back on that wagon and give him some much needed attention.

P.S. Coincidently, that Finzi recording came in the mail the other day. I haven't listened to it (yet), but Collon/Aurora Orchestra are up against some stiff competition from the likes of Boult and Handley.

vandermolen

#135
Quote from: Mirror Image on April 19, 2016, 06:59:02 PM
Thanks for the recommendations, Jeffrey. I own all of Thomson's and Handley's Bax recordings (incl. both conductors' symphony cycles). I seem to remember preferring Thomson's symphony cycle over Handley. Thankfully, Handley recorded Spring Fire and this remains, for me, one of Bax's strongest works. There's a naturalness and flowing lyricism to this work that caught my ears as soon as heard it. The problem I'm having with Bax is his music tends to go in one ear and out the other, but I admittedly haven't given him a thorough listening session in about six years. I'm hankering to get back on that wagon and give him some much needed attention.

P.S. Coincidently, that Finzi recording came in the mail the other day. I haven't listened to it (yet), but Collon/Aurora Orchestra are up against some stiff competition from the likes of Boult and Handley.
You should enjoy the Finzi disc John. Do you know this CD? I bought it for Bridge's towering masterpiece 'Enter Spring' but it features Bax's 'Spring Fire' too:
[asin]B004V7V4AS[/asin]
"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).

Karl Henning

Quote from: vandermolen on April 19, 2016, 01:16:27 PM
Your wish is my command Karl ;D
I've fished out the CD:
Bax derived the name 'Irravel' from the Irish Gaelic, characterising the dancer as a 'fantastic dream impersonation of a reckless impossible mood or whim...at the close the music becomes more and more remote in mood and harmonically bizarre, as though the vision were gradually fading away.
Apparently the work anticipates 'La Valse' by Ravel, written several years later.

Thanks!  I took it over here.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on April 19, 2016, 09:54:59 PM
You should enjoy the Finzi disc John. Do you know this CD? I bought it for Bridge's towering masterpiece 'Enter Spring' but it features Bax's 'Spring Fire' too:
[asin]B004V7V4AS[/asin]

Yep, I own all of those Elder 'English' recordings. I can't say I was too impressed with Elder's performance of Spring Fire and vastly prefer Handley's performance, but perhaps this is just the crazy, biased viewpoint doing the talking? ;) Bridge is another composer I can't get into, but that's another topic for another thread. :)

cilgwyn

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 19, 2016, 06:59:02 PM
Thanks for the recommendations, Jeffrey. I own all of Thomson's and Handley's Bax recordings (incl. both conductors' symphony cycles). I seem to remember preferring Thomson's symphony cycle over Handley. Thankfully, Handley recorded Spring Fire and this remains, for me, one of Bax's strongest works. There's a naturalness and flowing lyricism to this work that caught my ears as soon as heard it. The problem I'm having with Bax is his music tends to go in one ear and out the other, but I admittedly haven't given him a thorough listening session in about six years. I'm hankering to get back on that wagon and give him some much needed attention.

P.S. Coincidently, that Finzi recording came in the mail the other day. I haven't listened to it (yet), but Collon/Aurora Orchestra are up against some stiff competition from the likes of Boult and Handley.
I keep thinking that Spring Fire is a composition that might convince unbelievers. It might have sounded even better to my ears if Thomson had recorded it. Oh,well! I love the build up,the nature painting and the wildness when all that underlying tension explodes. It's very focused. It's sensuous and luxuriant,but without that degree of self indulgence that puts some critics off; and the atmosphere and sounds evoked remain in the mind,even if there aren't any memorable 'tunes'! I like allot of Bax's music,but I have a 'problem' with some of the tone poems. Roscatha,Into the Twilight,In the faery Hills Enjoyable as they are at the time,I can't remember a d*** thing afterwards! The best ones like Tintagel,The Garden of Fand,November Woods,Northern Ballad No1 are a different kettle of fish! I like all the Northern Ballads,though. I think it was great that Handley recorded them together. Although,I prefer The performances on the Boult,Downes and (Handley,Spring Fire) cd. I like the sound world in these Ballads. The bleakness and desolates wildness of the atmosphere conveyed by No 2 and 3,which is,apparently,actually entitled,Prelude for a Solemn Occassion and just III on the score, makes up for any deficiency in the tune department.
However,having said all that,I don't think I find anything as remote,mysterious and otherworldly in Bax as I do in North Country Sketches by Delius,or Eventyr,Over the Hills and Far Away or In a Summer Garden for that matter,however! Comparisons,eh?!! ::)
I'm listening to Beecham conducting Sibelius at the moment (Symphony No 1 on the Sony cd) which doesn't help!

Mirror Image

#139
Quote from: cilgwyn on April 26, 2016, 12:03:55 AM
I keep thinking that Spring Fire is a composition that might convince unbelievers. It might have sounded even better to my ears if Thomson had recorded it. Oh,well! I love the build up,the nature painting and the wildness when all that underlying tension explodes. It's very focused. It's sensuous and luxuriant,but without that degree of self indulgence that puts some critics off; and the atmosphere and sounds evoked remain in the mind,even if there aren't any memorable 'tunes'! I like allot of Bax's music,but I have a 'problem' with some of the tone poems. Roscatha,Into the Twilight,In the faery Hills Enjoyable as they are at the time,I can't remember a d*** thing afterwards! The best ones like Tintagel,The Garden of Fand,November Woods,Northern Ballad No1 are a different kettle of fish! I like all the Northern Ballads,though. I think it was great that Handley recorded them together. Although,I prefer The performances on the Boult,Downes and (Handley,Spring Fire) cd. I like the sound world in these Ballads. The bleakness and desolates wildness of the atmosphere conveyed by No 2 and 3,which is,apparently,actually entitled,Prelude for a Solemn Occassion and just III on the score, makes up for any deficiency in the tune department.
However,having said all that,I don't think I find anything as remote,mysterious and otherworldly in Bax as I do in North Country Sketches by Delius,or Eventyr,Over the Hills and Far Away or In a Summer Garden for that matter,however! Comparisons,eh?!! ::)
I'm listening to Beecham conducting Sibelius at the moment (Symphony No 1 on the Sony cd) which doesn't help!

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.