Finzi: Young Man's Exhortation (A) / Till Earth Outwears / Oh Fair To See (English Song, Vol. 16)

Featuring

John Mark Ainsley
Iain Burnside
Gerald Finzi

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Gerald Finzi's final song, 'Since we loved', composed a month before his death, is considered both his musical epitaph and a celebration of his marriage to artist Joyce (Joy) Black.

Composition History

Gerald Finzi composed slowly, gathering songs over many years into 'sets' (as he called them), which were posthumously divided into four collections by Howard Ferguson, his widow Joy, and eldest son Christopher.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Song-writing was central to Gerald Finzi's output, and he made a significant contribution to 20th-century British music, especially through his settings of Thomas Hardy, his favorite poet.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Gerald Finzi felt a deep empathy with Thomas Hardy's bleak fatalism, sense of transience, and anger at human suffering, stating he felt a 'kinship' with the poet.

Historical Context

During World War II, Gerald Finzi worked at the Ministry of War Transport and founded a fine, mainly amateur orchestra called the Newbury String Players.

Performer Biography

John Mark Ainsley, the tenor on this recording, is a versatile concert singer who has performed with major orchestras worldwide, including the London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.

Composer Biography

Gerald Finzi's reputation grew in the 1930s with performances of his Thomas Hardy settings and was consolidated with the 1940 premiere of his cantata Dies Natalis.