Naxos preside over
a warm and richly detailed recording
of one of Finzi's most ambitious works
as well as one of his most enjoyably
celebratory pieces. Intimations is
to St Cecilia what Walton's Belshazzar
is to the Gloria. Both Finzi
works are in their more animated passages
gratefully indebted to Walton and specifically
to Belshazzar (eg tr. 4 4.10).
The tenor has a central
place in both works and Finzi gives
him plenty to do. Gilchrist has already
established his Finzi credentials via
a Delphian song recital warmly welcomed
by Anne Ozorio. review
For this reason and having heard the
Delphian disc myself, I had high hopes
for this version. As ever Gilchrist
shows intelligent engagement with the
words. His voice lacks the white opalescence
of tone of Partridge and before him
of Wilfred Brown. Gilchrist’s tone is
slightly nasal in the line gloriously
established by Gerald English and then
less pleasingly by Robert Tear.
Intimations was
long in the creation having been started
in the 1930s. The subject of passing
time, loss and specifically the loss
of innocence were central to Finzi’s
creative processes. It can for example
be found in the numerous Hardy songs
and in the Flecker setting in the cycle
To a Poet. It’s a theme
that recurs time and again throughout
his vocal works and is probably a subtext
in every one of his pieces. It is no
wonder that Finzi was drawn to Wordsworth’s
Ode with its musings on the passing
of childhood and the narrowing of the
‘visionary gleam’ as adult concerns
intrude. Intimations is in some
ways the fuller expression of the ecstasy
hymned in his much earlier Dies Natalis.
Both works turn to childhood for mystical
rapture.
Intimations is
a cruelly demanding work for a tenor
concerned to present the words with
the clarity they demand and with Finzi
the conveying of meaning is crucial.
The words are no mere add-on. The telling
concatenation of music and words touches
off delight. Tastes vary but I have
always found the articulation of sung
words damaged by vibrato. Gilchrist
is good as his Delphian recital proved
but he is not exempt from this issue.
Listen to the beat in the voice in the
words light and glory
and earth (trs. 2 and 3). On
the other hand no-one has sung with
such an awed feeling of eternity and
the mysteries Of the eternal silence
(tr. 11 1:10). In that case Gilchrist
is steady as a rock. There are some
transiently disorientating moments too;
not many but one is where Gilchrist’s
pronunciation of the word ‘fountains’
comes out as ‘fountins’ not ‘fountAIns’
or even ‘FountENs’. There should have
been more hushed mystery in Gilchrist’s
singing of The pansy at my feet doth
the same tale repeat (tr. 7 1.03)
and over the word vanishings (1:47
in tr. 10). All of this said Gilchrist’s
performance remains outstanding and
if I seem critical it is because for
years I imprinted on the Partridge version
which is of little value to readers
since it has never been transferred
to CD and there are no indications that
it ever will be.
David Hill is no stranger
to Finzi and has been conducting his
works for years. His In terra Pax
is on Decca 468 807-2 and is excellent.
Quite apart from the rumba and romp
of the celebratory sections Hill has
a good eye for the abundant poetry of
this score. In the best hands Intimations
can be unbearably poignant for a
listener. Take, for example, the heart's-ease
shimmer at Forbode not any severing
of our loves. While the Naxos technical
team fail to italicise some solo entries
in quite the way Ian Partridge's and
Vernon Handley's Guildford-Lyrita team
did in 1974 there are some superbly
effective moments along the way. Try
the discreetly gleaming string sigh
behind the sung words ‘those shadowy
recollections’ (tr. 11, 00.08).
Hill introduces some unusual approaches
as well. Take, for example, the urgent
accelerations of Shout round me.
A momentary blemish is that the xylophone
sounds as if it is suffering a serious
joy-deficit, an accusation you could
never level at the GPO percussionist.
While this scouting of exuberance is
regrettable this is compensated for
in the demonstrative passages by the
wild-eyed singing of a big-sounding
choir.
This is the fourth
commercially recorded version of Intimations.
The first (and the best) is the Lyrita
LP SRCS75 with Ian Partridge, Guildford
Phil forces and Vernon Handley. This
has never made it to CD - more's the
pity. Then there are CDs from EMI (Hickox)
and Hyperion both of which suffer from
tenors (Langridge and Ainsley) who are
afflicted with a sometimes woeful vibrato.
This is doubly tragic in the case of
Langridge whose early 1970s broadcast
with the BBC Concert Orchestra found
him in much steadier voice.
Finzi’s For Cecilia
was a commissioned work. It
was premiered on 22 November 1947 at
the RAH by René Soames with the
Luton Choral Society and the BBC Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult.
The words are by Edmund Blunden (1896-1974).
Blunden and Finzi worked together closely
over the words as we are now reminded
in Diana McVeagh’s biography. review.
This Cecilia is the
second commercial recording and it is
very good indeed. It may not have quite
the Decca house-sound but the fffs
open out smartly. Oddly enough Gilchrist
is also in better voice in Cecilia
than he is in Intimations.
Hill’s version is up against a recording
made by Argo in 1979 during the second
flush of the Finzi renaissance. This
was performed by Philip Langridge, the
LSO, the London Symphony Chorus conducted
by Richard Hickox on LP 425 660-2 (Dies;
Cecilia, 1978). This was then
reissued in two Finzi anthologies: CD
425 660-2 in the early 1990s and most
recently on the British Music Collection
468 807-2. review
The notes for this
Naxos disc are by Finzi luminary, Andrew
Burn. The release is completed by the
sung texts reproduced in full in the
insert.
No Finzian can afford
to be without this disc and those who
have dabbled with Finzi through Classic
FM bon-bons will find this and the other
Naxos Finzi discs cello
concerto and clarinet
concerto a very inexpensive way
of hearing some of the best of Finzi.
Rob Barnett
James Gilchrist (tenor) 
