Perhaps no other English composer of the first half of the twentieth century had the talent of fitting words to music that Gerald Finzi did. So complete was the unity of his art that Finzi was acknowledged in his time to be the finest composer of English songs. Even in his larger works for soloist, chorus, and orchestra, Finzi never faltered but created works in which it was nearly impossible to tell which came first, the music or the poetry. In this 2005 Naxos recording, tenor James Gilchrist and conductor David Hill ...
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Perhaps no other English composer of the first half of the twentieth century had the talent of fitting words to music that Gerald Finzi did. So complete was the unity of his art that Finzi was acknowledged in his time to be the finest composer of English songs. Even in his larger works for soloist, chorus, and orchestra, Finzi never faltered but created works in which it was nearly impossible to tell which came first, the music or the poetry. In this 2005 Naxos recording, tenor James Gilchrist and conductor David Hill leading the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Orchestra turn in superlative performances of Finzi's Intimations of Immortality and For St. Cecilia. Part of the excellence is Hill's skill as a choral conductor -- listen to the bright, alert, and always sincere singing of the Bournemouth Chorus -- and part of it is Hill's skill as an orchestral conductor -- listen to the warm, sustained, and always graceful playing of the Bournemouth Symphony. But the largest part of the excellence is owed to...
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