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Gerald Finzi

HairyHaggis

HairyHaggis

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Any afficionados here? I love the cello concerto. Especially the second movement. Short post, posting from phone
 
I really like his music. It's well crafted and attractive imo. Had much fun accompanying the Bagatelles for clarinet - especially the last one! Clarinet concerto is gorgeous and Eclogue for piano and orchestra is beautiful; perfect to play before bed.
 
Finzi's song cycles - and perhaps particularly his settings of Thomas Hardy's poetry - are of enduring interest for me, for a variety of reasons. This Hyperion CD is excellent, and includes the remarkable and profoundly beautiful cycle Earth and air and rain.
 
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Inspired by this thread I listened to Finzi's Cello Concerto last night - Wallfisch/Handley/RLPO on Chandos. I've had this disc for many years but have listened to it only once or twice, and can hear why.

Apart from the slow movement, which is jolly nice, the rest of it is a lot of wind and bluster. If it had been composed 60 years earlier he might have been able to get away with it, but I can't believe he was trying to plough this furrow in the 1950s.

I've got a recording of Dies Natalis too, might give it a spin sometime but there are more pressing priorities in my limited listening time. I know its harsh, but tend to find that semi-forgotten works by semi-forgotten composers got there on their merits! I'll get my coat.
 
He is one of my most loathed composers. English cowpat music at its worst. In my opinion anyway! I used to do anything to avoid playing his music, but the Finzi society subsidised a lot of concerts when I was playing, seemed it was almost de rigeur to stick in the clarinet Concerto or the cello concerto.
 
I also have loathed composers, and some are English.

But I work on the basis that if you cannot say anything nice then say nothing at all.

ATB from George
 
I make the odd exception for Wagner who was a most unpleasant person who wrote equally unpleasant music, and seems to be adored by people not usually much nicer!

Will that do for keeping PFM in business? [Smiley Emoticon].

ATB from George
 
George J said:
I make the odd exception for Wagner who was a most unpleasant person who wrote equally unpleasant music, and seems to be adored by people not usually much nicer!

Will that do for keeping PFM in business? [Smiley Emoticon].

ATB from George
Click to expand...

You're replying to someone who thinks Wagner wrote some of the most sublime music ever ;-) Jury's out on how nice I am!
 
I can understand people who say they don't like Wagner's music, but I find the idea that the Liebestod, the opening of Rheingold, the Magic Fire music, the overture to Parsifal, the end of The Ring, etc., etc., are 'horrible' pieces of music somewhat strange.

Sorry for infecting this Finzi (whom I quite like) thread with Wagner.
 
George J said:
I also have loathed composers, and some are English.

But I work on the basis that if you cannot say anything nice then say nothing at all.

ATB from George
Click to expand...

But the opinion is a valid one, its backed up by experience, and its a completely valid thing to post on the forum. This place is not People's Friend magazine.
 
Oh George, I was careful to say in my opinion. It’s just not my thing at all, and confined to a desert island with only the music of one composer, it would almost certainly be Wagner, unpleasant fellow or not. I am not the man to talk to about Elgar, Walton’s extended works, or Finzi in particular. However Inam passionate about the music of other English composers who are often overlooked, Bliss, Tippett and Bax in particular. Oh, and I promise never to share my opinions in Elijah, possibly the most back-breaking piece of work for any upper-string player.
 
Elijah! Now there is a great piece of music if ever! I have played in it more often than attended performances, but it was my oratorio debut in the orchestra. Somewhat scarily, I had no chance to practice as I was engaged only at 10 in the morning for a 2 o’clock rehearsal call with the Choir! It was a "top and tale" rehearsal in effect! So I was sight reading some of it in the performance! Their regular player has been taken ill, so I got called on later than ideal.

It certainly helped that I knew the music well. My favourite recording was and still is the one conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent with Isobel Balley and Harold Williams in Huddersfield, about 1947.

I agree that, like quite a lot of Mendelssohn, the string parts in Elijah do require great stamina, but not more problematic than some other famous pieces like the Great C Major Symphony by Schubert for example.

ATB from George
 
Radio 3 broadcast a really excellent performance by Ashley Riches and Anna Tilbrook of Finzi's song cycle Earth and air and rain yesterday, which can be heard on iplayer for a month or so. Well worth listening to if you have an interest in English song, or poetry.
 
George J said:
Try this! Dies Natalis ...
I came across this as a youngster playing in my very first concert on the double bass. It is sublime!
ATB from George
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Sang "Intimations of Immortality" with Hereford Choral Society under Roy Massey in 1996 or 1997, I think. A lovely work.

"In Terra Pax" is one of my favourite Finzi pieces.
 
Dear Eisenach,

You sang it in Hereford led by a friend of mine back in the day, Roy Massey, and I played it in about 1988 or 1989 in the Shire Hall under Dr. Massey's assistant organist David Briggs!

Small world really! I still live in the County having returned from Worcestershire about eighteen months ago, but by your name you are in another Country altogether!

Best wishes from George
 
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