Search - Gerald Finzi, Maciej Rakowski, Matthew Best :: Finzi: Intimations of Immortality; Dies Natalis

Gerald Finzi, Maciej Rakowski, Matthew Best
Finzi: Intimations of Immortality; Dies Natalis
Genres: Pop, Classical

Track Listings (18) - Disc #1
1. I. Intrada
2. II. Rhapsody (Recitativo stromentato)
3. III. The Rapture (Danza)
4. IV. Wonder (Arioso)
5. V. The Salutation (Aria)
6. Andante sostenuto
7. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream
8. Rainbow Comes and Goes, The
9. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song
10. Ye bless?d Creatures, I have heard the call
11. Oh evil day! if I were sullen
12. But there's a Tree, of many, one
13. Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
14. Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own
15. O joy! that in our embers
16. But for those first affections
17. Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
18. And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills and Groves

CD Details

All Artists: Gerald Finzi, Maciej Rakowski, Matthew Best, Corydon Orchestra, John Mark Ainsley
Title: Finzi: Intimations of Immortality; Dies Natalis
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hyperion UK
Release Date: 11/8/1996
Album Type: Import
Genres: Pop, Classical
Styles: Vocal Pop, Opera & Classical Vocal, Historical Periods, Baroque (c.1600-1750)
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 034571168760

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality" is said to be one of the great masterpieces of English poetry. Finzi's setting of it has been criticized in the UK as being inappropriate due to the "fact" that "great poetry requires no musical setting." And so, by the same argument, composers should only use less-than-great texts. Now of course many of them do just that, particularly opera composers, but the truth is that when words meet music, it's the music that matters, and Finzi's is wonderful music indeed. Granted he was only a "minor master," but in the careful setting of words his talent was pretty impressive, as this lovely disc so eloquently demonstrates. --David Hurwitz

CD Reviews

Fabulous music for my ears

Henry Slofstra | 03/28/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD, along with the piece itself, is wonderfully composed by Gerald Finzi (I am a little partial to it because I played it with the UC Santa Cruz orchestra just recently) The choral arrangements prove to be enticing while singing in English."

Evokes a pastoral sense of wonder

Henry Slofstra | Waterloo, ON Canada | 02/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps this music will not reach everyone in quite the same way. The lyrics for these settings by Traherne and Wordsworth, respectively, capture a sense of wonder at life, and look at life from an eternal mystical perspective, but not from the after-life as is common, but back to childhood and the origins of life.

In his orchestration, Finzi captures the sense of the lyrics perfectly and skillfully. The music is beautifully sung by John Mark Ainsley; there is a lot of singing here, and all of it very fine. As usual, Best's direction ensures that every detail of this finely nuanced score is clearly rendered. Each to his own cup of tea; I will take this over Gershwin any day of the week. This is contemplative music for the contemplative mind, gorgeous and absolutely moving to the core.

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