Britten, Finzi & Holst: Sacred Works

Featuring

Richard Hickox
Stephen Varcoe
Edward Roberts
John Mark Ainsley
Nicholas Ward
Stephen Tees

Sue Dorey
John Alley
City of London Sinfonia
Britten Singers
Gerald Finzi
Benjamin Britten
Gustav Holst

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This recording was made with generous support from The Britten Estate Ltd and The Finzi Trust.

Composition History

Gerald Finzi's Requiem da camera was written in 1924 and dedicated to the memory of his teacher, Ernest Farrar, who was killed in active service during World War I.

Composition History

Benjamin Britten's Cantata misericordium was composed for and first performed at the centenary commemoration of the Red Cross in Geneva on September 1, 1963.

Composer Biography

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) lost his father and brothers in childhood, and saw his teacher Ernest Farrar (1885-1918) as a substitute father figure and musical mentor.

Compositional Technique

Many characteristics of Gerald Finzi's mature style, such as grave hieratic bass lines, false relations, and refined contrapuntal textures, are foreshadowed in his Requiem da camera.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Finzi's Requiem da camera is a protest against a faithless world and a meditation on the achievements of musicians affected by the Great War, using stewardship of the land as a metaphor for lasting values.

Composition History

Benjamin Britten's motet Deus in adjutorium meum was composed in 1945 as incidental music for Ronald Duncan's play This Way to the Tomb, serving as a unifying motif throughout the masque section.