Instrumental arrangements of songs, not just those of Gerald Finzi, are a comparative rarity in classical music, and one would expect to find some kind of justification of the procedure in the notes to this Decca release. As it happens there is none, and you have to look to the packaging graphics to learn that the intent is to "aid wider appreciation of one of England's best-loved composers." That statement might be a bit contradictory, but apparently the idea is to draw in listeners who don't much care for art song. Your ...
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Instrumental arrangements of songs, not just those of Gerald Finzi, are a comparative rarity in classical music, and one would expect to find some kind of justification of the procedure in the notes to this Decca release. As it happens there is none, and you have to look to the packaging graphics to learn that the intent is to "aid wider appreciation of one of England's best-loved composers." That statement might be a bit contradictory, but apparently the idea is to draw in listeners who don't much care for art song. Your reaction to this may depend on how you feel about the enterprise in general, and hardcore Finzi fans may steer clear. But the album succeeds on its own terms. The Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon offers some genuine orchestral works, including A Severn Rhapsody (1923), the piece that served notice that there was a new pastoralist in town. But sample instead one of the songs, perhaps Come away, come away, Death (track ten), one of several familiar Shakespeare items on the...
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