Composer: Gerald Finzi
Performer: James Gilchrist
Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: David Hill
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Size: 566 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Dies natalis, Op. 8
01. I. Intrada
02. II. Rhapsody
03. III. The Rapture
04. IV. Wonder
05. V. The Salutation
06. Prelude for string orchestra, Op. 25
07. Fall of the Leaf
Two Sonnets by John Milton for Tenor and small Orchestra
08. No. 1. When I consider
09. No. 2. How soon hath time
10. Nocturne (New Year Music)
Farewell to Arms for Tenor and small Orchestra
11. I. Introduction
12. II. Aria: His golden locks
Recorded: 5-6 June 2007
Recording Venue: The Concert Hall, Lighthouse, Poole, UK
Quintessentially Finzi, the tender yet radiant Dies natalis, a setting of texts by the 17th-century poet Thomas Traherne, depicts both the first sensations of a child as it enters the world, and life’s tarnishing experience of the innocence of childhood.
In Farewell to Arms, a further example of Finzi’s enthusiasm for 17th-century poets, the steady but inevitable tramp of time, symbolized by the measured bass and the tenor’s sad, arching melody, becomes a poignant symbol for the brevity of life as expressed in lines such as ‘O time too swift, O swiftness never ceasing’. Finzi knew all too well that ‘Beauty, strength, youth are flowers but fading seen’.