Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
English Song Series 15 - Finzi: Earth And Air And Rain
Naxos

English Song Series 15 - Finzi: Earth And Air And Rain

$19.99

Details

Composer
FINZI
Artist
Burnside, Williams
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Jul 25, 2006
Catalog #
8557963
UPC
747313296323

About

Lovely rich, dark tone, exquisite enunciation … glorious songs brilliantly performed.

Roderick Williams has already recorded the Finzi song-cycles I Said to Love, Let Us Garlands Bring, and Before and After Summer on Naxos. Here he continues the sterling work.

English solo song is a deceptive genre. Although the songs often appear simple, in actual fact they are not easy to pull off effectively. For them to work, every nuance must be brought out, every slightly inflection must be spot-on, every word invested with the right emotion. Williams is no stranger to English solo song and always gets to the heart of the work. Here he is, as always, beautifully sympathetic, awake to all nuances of the text – listen to wonderful shades of light and dark in When I set out for Lyonesse, to the poignancy in Lizbie Brown and the chilling intensity in Clock of the Years. He demonstrates excellent versatility – from the rumbustious Rollicum-Rorum, scintillatingly performed – through to the intense and serious (Ode on the Rejection of St. Cecilia), or the beautifully tender – The Birthnight.

This is the only version of By Footpath and Stile currently available. It was Finzi’s earliest Hardy setting, written in 1921-22, and was later withdrawn by the composer, whose plans to revise it were not fully seen through. The work was abandoned until Finzi’s friend, the composer Howard Ferguson edited it for republication. Although not as convincing as Finzi’s later Hardy settings, it nonetheless demonstrates the composer in the process of finding his own “voice”. The songs are deftly crafted, and often deeply moving. It is scored for string quartet accompaniment, sensitively performed here by the Sacconi Quartet.

Williams has a lovely rich, dark tone, and exquisite enunciation that facilitates his excellent communication of the words and the meaning. He is well accompanied by Iain Burnside. Glorious songs, and brilliantly performed.

-- Em Marshall, MusicWeb International

Tracklist 22 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Summer Schemes 02:34
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Summer Schemes
    Duration
    02:34
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  2. 2 No. 2. When I Set Out for Lyonesse 02:06
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. When I Set Out for Lyonesse
    Duration
    02:06
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  3. 3 No. 3. Waiting Both 03:24
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Waiting Both
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  4. 4 No. 4. The Phantom 03:45
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. The Phantom
    Duration
    03:45
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  5. 5 No. 5. So I Have Fared 02:49
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. So I Have Fared
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  6. 6 No. 6. Rollicum-Rorum 01:41
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. Rollicum-Rorum
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  7. 7 No. 7. To Lizbie Browne 04:01
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 7. To Lizbie Browne
    Duration
    04:01
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  8. 8 No. 8. The Clock of the Years 04:24
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 8. The Clock of the Years
    Duration
    04:24
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  9. 9 No. 9. In a Churchyard 03:51
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 9. In a Churchyard
    Duration
    03:51
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  10. 10 No. 10. Proud Songsters 03:05
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 10. Proud Songsters
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  11. 11 No. 1. To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence 05:02
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 1. To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence
    Duration
    05:02
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  12. 12 No. 2. On Parent Knees 01:33
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 2. On Parent Knees
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  13. 13 No. 3. Intrada 01:34
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 3. Intrada
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  14. 14 No. 4. The Birthnight 01:45
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 4. The Birthnight
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  15. 15 No. 5. June on Castle Hill 02:01
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 5. June on Castle Hill
    Duration
    02:01
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  16. 16 No. 6. Ode on the Rejection of St Cecilia 05:07
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 6. Ode on the Rejection of St Cecilia
    Duration
    05:07
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
  17. 17 No. 1. Paying Calls 03:47
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 1. Paying Calls
    Duration
    03:47
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet
  18. 18 No. 2. Where the Picnic Was 04:04
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 2. Where the Picnic Was
    Duration
    04:04
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet
  19. 19 No. 3. The Oxen 02:42
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 3. The Oxen
    Duration
    02:42
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet
  20. 20 No. 4. The Master and the Leaves 02:49
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 4. The Master and the Leaves
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet
  21. 21 No. 5. Voices from Things Growing in a Churchyard 06:34
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 5. Voices from Things Growing in a Churchyard
    Duration
    06:34
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet
  22. 22 No. 6. Exeunt Omnes 03:17
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 6. Exeunt Omnes
    Duration
    03:17
    Composer
    Gerald Finzi
    Performer
    Roderick Williams
    Ensemble
    Sacconi Quartet