Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)

A very important album, but also a frustrating one. Finzi's setings of Hardy's poems are unique in their sound and in their excellence. mAny other have tried their hand at it. Indeed, it probably quicker to list the Twentieth-Century Eknglish composers who DIDN"T try it. But Finzi impresses me as having the most consisitent appropriate musical "feel" for these late words of Hardy. Usually Hyperion recordings are magnificent productions artistically, sonically, and graphically, but in this effort, recording engineer Antony Howell and producer Mark Brown fell down badly: voice levels are all wrong, and the balance of piano to voice makes it souns sometimes as if the two artists are in separate rooms. What a pity. Still, such as you can hear of it, the singing by Hill and Varcoe is exemplary.… (plus d'informations)