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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ธ.ค. 2024
- A transcendent work by English composer Gerald Finzi. For me, unforgettable, and a landmark in my appreciation of the English pastoral idiom.
My earlier upload of this work (Boult, LPO, Friend) was ordered to be taken down by Nimbus/Lyrita records (having been up for nearly five years and got almost 40,000 views). We have lost, too, all the hundreds of wonderful comments. I regret that the most, for they were deeply felt and irreplaceable. A loss to all lovers of Finzi's music.
Here is the equally winning Northern Sinfonia/Griffiths/Hatfield performance on Naxos. I reconstructed the original sequence of photographs (I am afraid that both equipment and technique in my early TH-cam days weren't terribly fine, even to be kind to myself! So I apologise for that).
I don't think I can do better than quote Rob Barnett from Musicweb on this piece:
"The earnest sweetness of Introit for solo violin and small orchestra is touching, elegiac, fragile and plaintive -- a most beautiful piece. The Introit ... makes me lament the ruthless decision to drop the flanking movements which made up the Finzi violin concerto. I wonder if the work can ever be reconstructed? As it is the Introit is every bit the equal of Eclogue (a piece well exposed on British Classic FM). It is a work of the most haunting and evanescent intensity, heartbreaking in that passage in which the violin plays in its highest register. It is in some ways a scion of Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending and is every bit the equal of that work. Lesley Hatfield plays it with poise, security and serenity."
A recent, most moving comment by TH-camr Wolfy O'Hare on Finzi's Eclogue: • Gerald Finzi - Eclogue...
could equally well pertain to this piece too:
"Tender, rapt and bitter-sweet harmonies which seem to reach back into one's personal past with ease and profound sincerity; music so in sympathy with private thoughts that from the outset, it gently mists the eyes and unlocks years of quietly folded feeling."
For myself too, this music strikes like an emotional thunderbolt.
I took these images of parts of England's Peak District in Derbyshire at Christmas 2008.
Northern Sinfonia
Violin: Lesley Hatfield
Conductor: Howard Griffiths
Naxos Label
NAXOS 8.553566
Evokes memories of people, places, lost loves et al, in such a gently-melancholic way that only Finzi can do for the sensitive listener. Effective mainly if listened to alone, or when shared with kindred spirits, as opposed to a concert-situation.
A comment I shall treasure Christopher.
my sentiments exactly
I wish I could have sid it as well, Peaceful Man. We two are one.
I work as a voice accompanist, and after playing thousands of songs (literally) by hundreds of composers from all different time periods, I have to say that Finzi belongs in the top echelon of art song. Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Strauss, Debussy, Duparc, Fauré, Barber... and Finzi (in no particular order, and opera excluded). Very few song cycles rival the depth of Till Earth Outwears, or Let Us Garlands Bring. He was a private and deeply reflective man, and you can hear this in his music. His father died when he was 7, World War I broke out when he was 13 and several of his brothers (and first music teacher) died in the conflict. World War II broke out when he was 38. Despite all this, and to my amazement, so much of his music is an affirmation of life. He never let the gloom and melancholy fully win out musically, like you could perhaps say Shostakovich did. He was a remarkable person with a remarkable spirit, and his music is shamefully under-appreciated, probably due in part to the fact that his instrumental output is quite small. Thank you for the upload, and for helping to spread Finzi's music.
Nathan Laney An excellent comment Nathan: thoughtful and informative. I am most grateful, thank you.
AntPDC Thanks for your response, cheers from Ohio
Nathan...omg..what a comment. It took me 65 years to find this music and it was purely by accident as I was looking for something else. Thank you for your post..and thank you Ant for your wonderful channel.
Nathan Laney ...Beautiful comment 👍
After a steady diet of RVW...it is refreshing and challenging to (re)discover Finzi...I am going to explore "Earth and Air and Rain"..
The melancholia you sometimes suppress in order to 'get on with life' is bound to surface later. How fortunate then to have a Finzi evoking such moods. Sublime.
Such emotional complexity! Finzi should be ranked as one of the greatest composers...
So wonderful, in my world Gerald Finzi is just the best, his music takes me to where ever i want to be, leaves me humbled, thank you AntPDC .
One of those pieces that lives in the soul once you have heard it & yearns to be heard again and again, achingly beautiful, sears the soul of the listener with yearning and an awesome evocation of times past, and yet to come
This is a very ‘easygoing’ piece and captures the pleasures of our beautiful countryside. The video footage does a lot for the tranquil music.
It’s great just to be able to relax, listen and enjoy a heavenly piece of music. Nice work, Anthony.
Treasure both in sound and sight. I have found Gerald Finzi in just the past couple of years. Thank you for bringing this to us all.
My pleasure Craig.
Sublime evocation of a pastoral background and a release of a memory of things past. A childhood remembrance perhaps, but all wonderful. This is so evocative, which should register with all listeners.
Driving to work on a dull, rainy evening, classical station playing - found myself aching, in that deep, rich, beautiful way, as this song played - repeated the title/composer to myself until I got inside and onto TH-cam, where I found it and am listening now for the third time. Thank you so much for the song, the pictures, and your words above. All beautiful. With gratitude to Finzi (new to me) and you (also new to me), Scott.
Thank you Scott: you echo my experience upon first hearing this piece. My best wishes, Anthony.
A rare beauty. Music for a better time.
Really remarkable,how powerfully conveyed emotions of within. A lot of salutations n I wish I could give millions of likes to this specific masterpiece. I bow down
Listening to all your chosen pieces Anthony is like touching eternity-so beautiful and moving.Thank you.
How kind. Thank you Jacqueline, and a Merry Christmas.
So beautiful it makes my heart ache. For me this is sublime melancholy - if that's possible. Your images are a fitting complement Thank you for reinstating this piece among your uploads Ant.
+T Mark Rogers A pleasure Mark. "Sublime melancholy" - yes. I mean it's not as if I sit here every day sobbing into my cups in sadness. For me, you, and others, it's all about being moved to one's soul by beauty. I'm the same with other art, though less so. Best wishes.
Ant.
Exactly. In retrospect perhaps melancholy was a bit strong! Simple 'reflection' would perhaps be more apt.
Cheers.
You just "get it" Mark :)
I agree with you sir! T. Mark Rogers
I dont so much hear melancholy in Finzi's work as a deep, but understated beauty, almost self effacing......
So glad you are able to re-post this wonderful music. My ears are fresh to much of Finzi's music. Thank you and Cheers from Canada.
Goodness, that nearly broke my heart.
This music is so beautifully sad. But if it evokes the universal sadness of life, we are grateful for its poignancy, its honesty, its humanity and feel not sadder for it, but comforted.
As I stated above...not sure it is sad...just remarkably beautiful......as Carl Nielsen sad of Mozart (whom he adored)....One laughs and the wonderful comedy in the operas of Mozart, but then the laughter ceases when one contemplates the absolute beauty one is experiencing.....so too, with Finzi.
Through your sensitive, evocative videos my knowledge of Finzi's music considerably widened. Thank you so much. I often turn to them when in need of solace. Music and landscape mean a great deal to me, and many a wakeful night has been spent soaking up the beauty. It helps!
+fhbrown58 I am very happy about that; thank you for your lovely comment.
Anthony.
I am eternally grateful to you Ant PDC for these superb posts which reaffirm my suspicions that Finzi is one of the greats. Every piece is a gem, and immensely moving. Thank you!
How kind. Thank you Steve.
I have arranged for this to be played for my cremation. Just this. No waffling. Family and friends will simply sit, relax, and listen to this sublime piece of music, that speaks to me about casting off ‘these mortal coils’ more than any words could. Maybe they will be inspired to reflect on my soul, free to soar and swoop, unencumbered at last. Then off they will go for tea and cakes :)
...or a few beers!
@@AntPDC or a few beers, yes, indeed :)
Dear AntDC: We must be kindred spirits for Finzi's music, and especially this piece, lifts my soul into the ethereal realms. But what human spirit except dead ones could not be moved by such felicity?
First time hearing this piece. This song makes me want to wash away all of my problems just by dying but the melody persuade me how wonderful of a living memory that I once had .. so I decided to die peacefully instead without guilt.
i just started listening to finzi such an evocative and thoughtful and melodic composer
"music so in sympathy with private thoughts that from the outset, it gently mists the eyes and unlocks years of quietly folded feeling." This sums up my feelings as well. I studied this ethereal--and too brief--piece when I was in college, and performed it, but only for my classmates, alas. There weren't enough of us to take it onstage. Thanks for jogging my buried emotions of a difficult time in my life, but in a wholly positive way. Finzi does that to us and this was his strength I think. Bless you for this upload Ant.
You are correct in using the word 'transcendent.' Finzi goes as deep into the heart as it is possible to go.
This music is gorgeous and beautiful beyond reckoning........
Thanks for sharing this recording... Another masterpiece by G. Finzi, one of my favorite composer of all time... Blessings, Max T.
Likewise Max.
I have just listened to this wonderful peace (intentional spelling mistake!) of music for the first time ever, as we are playing it in our summer concert. Thank you so much for posting, along with evocative pictures. It's very rare for me to instantly fall in love with a piece. This is a rare moment indeed. Thankyou.
Best wishes for your concert!
Oh my...THANKS for posting this! I did not know it, though being a fan of some other Finzi works. This music has gone straight to my heart. SO beautiful...bless you for sharing it!
That's exactly what happened to me Bruce upon first hearing this piece. It will never leave my heart and soul.
Maravillosa y evocadora música, en maravillosa conjunción con las bellísimas imágenes..¡¡¡
Muchas gracias Francisco!
AntPDC. Gracias a ti, por tus regalos musicales. Felicidades..¡¡¡¡¡
So beautiful. It makes me long for better times. But also draw solace from natural beauty. The sun setting. The wind in the trees.
The modest snowdrops are now in bloom. Trees stir, and life begins anew, marking the birth of another year. Ramsons, anemones and crocuses begin to push through the cold earth. Swallows, martins and swifts set out on their long journey home from Africa. Blackthorn, Queen Anne's lace and celandine will soon bedeck the fields and hedgerows. Later, the hawthorns' may blossoms are set to decorate the landscape.
What fresh human depredations can despoil nature's cycle?
Where the lark floats upwards this sinks down to the fields and lanes... In the high, sad notes you sense the toil and sorrow in the ploughed soil but at the same time there is still that nagging sense of elegiac longing (for an imagined Albion?)
Simply exquisite music. I have loved the music of Finzi ever since first hearing it! As director of a student orchestra in Austin, TX I programmed several works of Finzi's, including the Eclogue, Introit, and Bagatelles......perhaps some of the first (and only?) performances of these works in Austin and maybe Texas?
Thank you AntPDC for the beautiful pastoral music and perfect accompanying images! Came to know Finzi through your uploads. What a composer with the deepest sensibilities, moving harmonies, craft and above all lyrical gift. What a great gift to the world of music Mr Gerald Finzi was and continues to be to us all! Thank you!
+Daryn Andrew Along with others, it is comments like yours which give me the motivation to continue to advocate Finzi's (and others') music. I wish you well in all your endeavours.
Equally Beautiful as the first , and if I must say a better recording 😊 thank you for sharing these wonderful posts & images
Sorry the original is gone; glad that this one is here! I have really come to appreciate Gerald Finzi through your channel. Thank you for sharing so much beauty!
+Molly McEnerney Thanks as always Molly. Finzi just gets it - he's wistful, introspective, often melancholic. He digs deep into the soul, crafts music of exquisitely affecting beauty, which resonates with all like-minded souls. I love him, wish I could have met him in life. Best wishes Molly :) Anthony.
Back again here for one of the videos on my CLassical list. Lovely pictures and of course, who doesn't love Finzi?
AntPDC Back again for repeat listening. I find so much music on my “Classical Impressionist” Playlist comes from your posts. I feel compelled to thank you again and again. The visuals - your extraordinary photography, aesthetics, understanding of great music, your gentle and refined writing, warmth of character, your contribution to world access to composers- you have taught us cannot be overstated as a gift to the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that your channel/posts have opened up a whole new world to me and many others like me, who thrive on and research Classical music, and only found English composers late in life do to your posts. It’s True!
❤️💔☺️🇦🇺🇺🇸
Agree this is Impressionist art for your ears. I am also coming to this music late in life.
My sincere apologies for missing your thoughtful post Rusty. I shall try to be more scrupulous, but sometimes the mechanics muck it all up on YT. Best wishes.
you also put together the lovely photo montages--thank you for taking time to do this--they reflect perfectly the music
Alone I walk down shady woodland paths.
Bright sunshine filtered through the trees
Dapples the ground beneath my questing feet.
Here at last I am alone with God.
Farther on a little pool catches
And reflects the filtered light which beckons
Kindly like a White Witch of the Wood.
I feel a thrill without a trace of fear.
I cannot stop myself from moving closer
Toward the Edge to see the Tadpoles swimming
In myriad stages of development.
I feel a wish to be part of their world.
The pool is a Mirror enabling me to see
Myself more clearly in a tranquil light;
Also an Eye that opens the mysteries of
The Universe to peace-filled understanding.
~ Autobiographical c. 1957-58
Beautiful poem
MARAVILLOSO RECORDARLO
I love the place in this work around the 4:47 mark where the soloist (and orchestra) seem to hesitate and repeat the same 4 note motive over and over as if trying to recapture a beautiful thought.....than proceed with new but equally beautiful music
Just beautiful. Words fail me.
Schöne Sendung wie immer, danke!
So lovely... and the visual accompaniment is gorgeous. Thank you for this sublimity. 😊
Such brilliant photography! Thank you!
I love this piece by Finzi. However, AntPDC, I find your accompanying video enhances my enjoyment considerably. Thank you.
Many thanks Des.
He seems to understand the nature of pastoral England, it is evocative and plaintive . Like a lot of the best English art, understated but enigmatic too, a sense of place that one feels in the work of Paul Nash.
Thank you Andy. He belongs to the Betjeman school of - well, artists who get to one's soul in an apparently simple, but profound manner. Best wishes to you.
I conducted a performance of this at Cardiff University in 1978. The soloist was a fellow student who went onto a career as a film and tv composer. A wonderful gem!!
It is indeed a gem Justin; it occupies a special place in my soul.
*so magnificently beautiful*
There is no need for me to say much about this subline musical experience. My fellow 'posters' have said it all.
Why is that these small masterpieces by Finzi are so rarely performed, especially here in the US? I remember when I first heard the Boult Lyrita recording of Finzi--I wondered how it was possible that such beautiful music was virtually unknown even by classical enthusiasts. And it is not as if Finzi wrote only a few pieces of 'pastoral nostalgia.' His works such as Dies Natalis and Intimations of Immortality deserve to be played side by side with Elgar's Gerontius, Howell's Hymnus Paradisi, VW's Sea Symphony, and the Delius Mass of Life and Requiem. I appreciate your effort to increase Finzi's visibility -- to hear his music is to be converted.
ah, this is a sweet bit of heaven on earth
+Val Lamon A lovely comment Val, thank you.
Wonderful music. Why is this music so unknown?
Beats me Paul.
Again, though I love Finzi's music, there is a certain melancholy, that reflects my own life and perhaps the reason his music remains so close to my heart.
Though I am fortunate to sell many of my liturgical compositions around the world, I still feel a sense of failure that none of my compositions satisfy my own wish of accomplishment.
People buy trinkets, I make money, take the money but feel I am not worth of the term composer.
+ Douglas Carter You are rather hard on yourself Douglas, if I may say so. Please do post one of your works here. I'd be happy to work with you on a slideshow, should you think it appropriate.
Best wishes, as ever. Anthony.
How do I get in touch with you Anthony? The Internet is so crazy nowadays one must be very careful. Do you a Facebook account? I could send a private message from there.
I avoid Facebook like the plague Douglas!
How to send private messages on TH-cam:
Go to the channel of the person that you want to contact. You can do this by clicking their channel name underneath one of their videos.
Click the About tab.
Click Send message (on the right).
Type in your private message and click Send.
Did all of that, sent you a message along with a file of my music.
Must say I was disappointed in never receiving an acknowledgment.
I did, in fact, reply Douglas: you will find it in your YT Private Message section. YT messaging is pretty imperfect and highly unintuitive - it's been thus for a while now.
Sorry you lost all those previous “comments.” Judging by the comments here I imagine there were some touching erudite comments from the heart.
I see most comments are from 2 or 3 years ago, if you get this know that your upload has reached out to so many of us that are indeed kindred spirits with you.
The quotes you offered are so articulate I would not try to improve on perfection.
Thank you.
In posting such sweet music you are teaching many of us new to Finzi, perhaps expanding our rapture and introspection from say, Chopin’s Nocturnes, the French Romantics, Elgar, RVW, et.al. into peaceful harmonies and bitter-sweet melancholy that echoes loves, losses, and a life well-lived.
Again, thank you, sir.
Rusty, I do apologise for having missed your wonderful, deeply-felt comment, for which I thank you very much. Best wishes.
AntPDC ❤️☺️
I adore this piece AntPDC - thanks for re-uploading it!
+Michael Ross I had to Michael - it's just so good :)
if only he had persevered with the outer movements, I'm sure it would be a concerto in all the top violinist's repertoire! :)
Yes. And on that theme, one reflects on what music George Butterworth might have given us.
Yes Indeed! These so called minor composers produced some absolute gems!
AntPDC, thanks for your reply! And for reminding me of the Cello Concerto which I will soon listen to. I must tell you that of all your fine photos in your videos, the one that had me chuckling is at the top of the Introit. Glutton Bridge! I'm a writer and I'm going to be sure to use this name somewhere in a story or poem!
There are many, many quirky place-names here Malcolm. Much material here: www.juicebrighton.com/news/quirky-news/help-im-stuck-in-stinky-bay-ordnance-survey-collates-database-of-local-place-nicknames/
Many thanks! I'm going to check this out.
One thinks of the city grow into the very ribs of one's soul, and age creeps upon the pilastered depths of one's being, worn and centuried by mere decades in the great swirls and eddies of the cess of diurnal drudgery.
And then, something like this wafts up like a country feather falling upon one's shoe, and makes the thoughts saunter towards a home you strove ever to know, filling you with those most uplifting of airs that you would hum among autumn leaves, slow and unlulled.
The wonders of TH-cam (and its tireless contributors like AntPDC) - I'd never heard of Finzi until now!
Re the description, the whole concerto was published posthumously and there are at least 2 recordings to date
Exquisite.
I have to agree with all the comments here. This is more earthy and somehow more melancholy than RVW's Lark.
I agree Malcolm. And I prefer Finzi's Cello Concerto over Elgar's for exactly the same reason. As you put it so well, Finzi conveys a more profound emotional sensibility in these pieces.
@@AntPDC Although Elgar's is too, a marvelous work!
I wonder how English pastoral pieces can connect with anything which now passes as music? This will be around as long as Mozart or Bach. Not so with Mr robbie Williams. or lil mix. Simon cowbells trousers?
it r gud
PURA DELICIA
1:06 😭