December 17, 2018

  • Rare Finzi Treasures

     

    Finzi: Cello Concerto/Ecologue/etc.
    Paul Watkins, cello. Louis Lortie, piano.
    BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis
    Chandos 5214
    Total Time:  70:58
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) tends to be one of those composers whose understated music stands at the periphery of the first half of the 20th Century.  His style is an extension of Elgar (especially in his orchestral miniatures) and the musical language of Vaughan Williams.  Finzi was an advocate for 18th—Century English music as well as for young, and amateur performers.  He would often continuously tinker and revise his own music overtime.  His Clarinet Concerto and the cycle Dies Natalis are among his more popular works along with his pieces for string orchestra.  Chandos has pulled together four of his lesser-known works in this new multi-channel hybrid disc.

    The primary work on the album is the Cello Concerto in a, Op. 40.  It began life from its central slow movement and was composed shortly after Finzi learned he had leukemia in 1951.  A request from the Cheltenham Festival a couple years later was the opportunity to expand this work by adding the two outer movements and creating a concerto.  Finzi’s intriguing harmonic ideas, coupled with engaging melodies will make this a winning work for those hearing it the first time.  A spirit of introspection is cast across the work, even for the final, slightly hopeful Rondo movement.  Even for the 1950s this would have been fairly anachronistic, but its romanticism and intense emotional outpouring that begins the first movement is a truly wonderful discovery for those unfamiliar with Finzi’s music.  This is an impassioned, and emotionally rich work with gorgeous orchestral writing, especially for strings, with an engaging opening theme that is picked up by the soloist as the work moves along unpacking it motivically.  The extensive cadenza at the end of the movement lets Watkins shine even more as it moves to a quick final orchestral cadence.  A more plaintive and introspective quality is at the heart of the stunning slow movement.  This quality moves us into the third movement introducing the primary theme before the cello takes up its jauntier style in a somewhat folkish rhythmic feel.  Again, some of the ways the melody turns and the supporting harmony moves is among the delights of the piece.  The work is very well-suited to Paul Watkins rich, dark tone color and his performance throughout the work is often quite breathtaking.

    The remaining three works were begun in the 1920s and revised towards the end of the composer’s life.  Two works for piano and orchestra bookend a brief orchestral piece.  First is the Ecologue, Op. 10 which is a chamber piece for string orchestra and piano with hints of Bach.  It was not performed until after Finzi’s death when it was included on a memorial concert for him in 1957.  The work appears to be part of a planned piano concerto which was to include the grand fantasia (which is part of the concluding work on the release).  Here is that similar quietude of the cello concerto’s slow movement in the sort of understated style for which Finzi is most remembered.  At the heart of the rather somber Nocturne, Op. 7 (first penned in 1926) is a little galliard that connects with the pavane-like feel of the outer sections.  Indeed, when the piece was revised for a performance on the BBC in 1932 it bore the title “New Year Music (Pavan)”.  It is a simple, yet moving work very much in the English miniature tradition.  The final piece on the album is the Grand Fantasia and Toccata, Op. 38.  The former was composed in 1928 as part of the aforementioned concerto for piano and strings.  In this work, we again see the connections to early music that Finzi laced in his music, especially the Baroque-like free-flowing style for the soloist (perhaps the Bach “Chromatic Fantasia” was very much in the composer’s mind).  Rhythmically the opening section also bears footprints of the Baroque, but as we move into the “Toccata”, the music has a slice of wit that fits closer to the work of Walton.  It is in that interesting genre of 20th-Century music that explored Baroque styles in modern harmonic language.  Louis Lortie captures the essence of these aspects quite well in his performance.

    Gerald Finzi’s music is among those rare musical gifts of the 20th Century.  There is often this touching undercurrent of melancholy in the works presented here, but always a beautiful melodic thread that captures the wonder of the listener.  The performances here are simply wonderful and committed.  Chandos captures all of this in gorgeous sound on this hybrid multi-channel release.  Though this is lesser-known work, it is a great place to get started for anyone interested in exploring this lesser-known gentle composer.