Finzi, Gerald (1901 - 1956)

[gurnemanz]

Such a gifted setter of words to music.
Yet another of my retirement plans is to work my way through his many song cycles (very fine recordings on Naxos, and elsewhere).

I started down that road last year, acquiring a very recommendable Hyperion song cycle twofer (only £6 from their site).

A couple of years ago we went on an excursion to Beacon Hill near Newbury - a bracing walk with fine views. After that we decided to visit the nearby church at Ashmansworth, not knowing that Finzi had lived right nextdoor from 1939 to 1956 (there's a blue plaque). His gravestone is by the porch which contains a cut glass window and a memorial list of English composers.

[Pabmusic]

I started down that road last year, acquiring a very recommendable Hyperion song cycle twofer (only £6 from their site).

A couple of years ago we went on an excursion to Beacon Hill near Newbury - a bracing walk with fine views. After that we decided to visit the nearby church at Ashmansworth, not knowing that Finzi had lived right nextdoor from 1939 to 1956 (there's a blue plaque). His gravestone is by the porch which contains a cut glass window and a memorial list of English composers.

It's actually by Laurence Whistler. A gem if ever there was one - A Window to English Music. Joy Finzi commissioned it after she saw the Butterworth window at Radley College (also Whistler).

Butterworth again! (You must stop this, Pabs!)

[Pabmusic]

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Many thanks Pabs. The recordings that Naxos have made of his songs with Roderick Williams and Iain Burnside, are quite exemplary.

Yes they are. I started with the Lyritas in the 70s, but I have the Naxos series (and the Hyperion).

[EdgeleyRob]

Don't agree really. Finzi is very much from the same sound-world as Parry and Butterworth ( ie: basically diatonic, with unprepared chromatic interjections). Not as modal as GSKB, not as extrovert as Parry, but very much of the same world.

The theory says the same sound world Pabs but I agree with BBM it's somehow unique.
Not only pastoral,there's something else in his music,I don't know the word,or even if there is a word to describe this but whatever it is I don't near it in Parry or Butterworth.

[Pabmusic]

The theory says the same sound world Pabs but I agree with BBM it's somehow unique.
Not only pastoral,there's something else in his music,I don't know the word,or even if there is a word to describe this but whatever it is I don't near it in Parry or Butterworth.

There's room for us both to be right, ER. All I'm saying that Finzi's musical style had roots. Finzi also brought his personality to the melting pot. I don't mean that he's a clone of Parry & Butterworth. But he comes from the same stable. Mind you, if you are wanting places where one person actually sounds like another, there are examples. The opening of Love Blows, for instance.

Finzi is one of the most easily recognisable composers; but that doesn't diminish what I say. His word-setting, for instance, and general harmonic language are clearly related.

[EdgeleyRob]

There's room for us both to be right, ER. All I'm saying that Finzi's musical style had roots. Finzi also brought his personality to the melting pot. I don't mean that he's a clone of Parry & Butterworth. But he comes from the same stable. Mind you, if you are wanting places where one person actually sounds like another, there are examples. The opening of Love Blows, for instance.

Finzi is one of the most easily recognisable composers; but that doesn't diminish what I say. His word-setting, for instance, and general harmonic language are clearly related.

Thanks Pabs

[antongould]

Music For Loves Labour Lost opened Breakfast this morning, according to the Squire, who knows everything, written in 3 weeks. Also, Let Us Garlands Bring is on Lunchtime Concert from New York today .......

[BBMmk2]

Music For Loves Labour Lost opened Breakfast this morning, according to the Squire, who knows everything, written in 3 weeks. Also, Let Us Garlands Bring is on Lunchtime Concert from New York today .......

Oh I would have loved to have heard that! I'm never up at that time, these days!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh I would have loved to have heard that! I'm never up at that time, these days!

Not up by "lunchtime", Bbm?

Just for you (and anyone else):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSU-suPltQ

(By the way - I thought it wasn't on to make political posts on the Forum?)

[BBMmk2]

Not up by "lunchtime", Bbm?

Just for you (and anyone else):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSU-suPltQ

(By the way - I thought it wasn't on to make political posts on the Forum?)

Thank you Ferney. I have that very recording already. Must play it sometime this weekend!

[antongould]

Not up by "lunchtime", Bbm?

Just for you (and anyone else):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSU-suPltQ

(By the way - I thought it wasn't on to make political posts on the Forum?)

Thanks for this ferney .... Excellent stuff as the sun breaks through the clouds ......

Labour is not/has not lost ..... The People's Chancellor says they will win .......

[antongould]

In (Wor) Sir Thomas Allen's Saturday Classics he played two Finzi pieces - Dies Natalis and, to close the show, In Terra Pax which he seemed to regret never having recorded, indeed only performing it at Minehead in the sixties. He chose the John Shirley Quirk recording which I had never heard before and was very impressed by .....

[BBMmk2]

In (Wor) Sir Thomas Allen's Saturday Classics he played two Finzi pieces - Dies Natalis and, to close the show, In Terra Pax which he seemed to regret never having recorded, indeed only performing it at Minehead in the sixties. He chose the John Shirley Quirk recording which I had never heard before and was very impressed by .....

I have Roderick William's recordings on Naxcs. How do they compare?

[antongould]

I have Roderick William's recordings on Naxcs. How do they compare?

So have I bbm but IMVVHO the Shirley Quirk is better but seems very hard to get.

[Pulcinella]

So have I bbm but IMVVHO the Shirley Quirk is better but seems very hard to get.

Available via Presto, ag:

https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8167322--finzi-choral-music

I haven't searched elsewhere, as I don't need it (already on the shelves in an earlier incarnation!).