Gerald Finzi

[Helen Bach]

+1 for the Clarinet concerto. Finzi, IMHO, is up there with other British composers of the era.

 

[eisenach]

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

Hello, George.
I live near Leominster. The user name and icon refer to the birth place of the King of all composers. I was lucky enough to live in Mühlhausen near Eisenach in Thüringen for several months back in 1997. Plenty of occasion to explore Bach sites.

 

[George J]

Dear Eisenach,

I live only a mile from Bromyard at Linton, and agree about the greatest of composers. There is only one composer on the level of Micheangelo or Newton in their respective fields.

My other favourite is also a master but much less appreciated, generally, FJ Haydn.

My late mother used to live just south of Leominster and I know the whole County very well indeed. I have family dotted about all corners of it. I could think of no better place to live though I prefer the northern part to the environs of Ross-on Wye for example.

Best wishes from George

 

[eisenach]

Ha! Taught at QE for a little while in the early 90s.

This thread has got me digging out the Finzi CDs. I love the clarinet concerto and there's some very stylish playing by Robert Plane on the Naxos disc. Beautifully recorded, too. Finzi at his lyrical best.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00000HZXA/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Glad the ESL-63s are behaving again!

I had the Cello concerto on yesterday and didn't take to it much at all. I can see why alanbeeb doesn't like it.
Dies Natalis is a favourite, though.

It's a bit harsh to lump it all together as cowpat music! But don't get me started on Elgar's music. I can't stand it. One of the downsides of singing in a few Three Choirs Festivals at the end of the 90s was the inevitable Elgar. Even singing under Leonard Slatkin couldn't lift it! Elgar's like hearing the Archers theme tune: an immediate lunge for the off switch!