Da Finzi Code

This is a very fine disk highlighting the music of the early 20th century English composer Gerald Finzi. The performers are the Academy of St Martin in the Fields directed by Sir Neville Marriner. The works are Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with soloist Andrew Marriner, Neville's son, Romance for String Orchestra, nocturne and Dies Natalis a cantata for tenor solo and string orchestra sung by Ian Bostridge. Finzi is perhaps best known for song settings but he did produce significant larger works too and with the exception of the cello concerto these are included here. Of Jewish Italian descent, he longed to be accepted as an English country gentleman and with some compromises given the social climate of the times, he succeeded in living that life to a large extent. The music is superficially pastoral but as with a lot of the English composers damned with that faint preise, there is a much tougher streak hidden beneath the surface. the clarinet concerto and Dies Natalis are the two main works here and both receive admirable performances by the soloists. Dies Natalis sets texts by the 17th century writer Thomas Traherne, not sacred texts as such but certainly spiritual, which would fit well with Finzi's outlook.