Finzi - Earth and Air and Rain
Five song cycles to words by Thomas Hardy
Clifford Benson (piano), sung by Stephen Varcoe, sung by Martyn Hill
The welcome return of what now seem rather special archive recordings of Finzi's great Hardy settings. Direct, unselfconscious and ever-sentient performances. —
2 CDs
$16.75Downloads
Audio formats guideContents
Finzi: Earth and Air and Rain, Op. 15
- Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Clifford Benson (piano)
I. Summer Schemes
II. When I set out for Lyonnesse
III. Waiting Both
Finzi: Till Earth outwears, Op 19a
- Martyn Hill (tenor), Clifford Benson (piano)
I. Let me enjoy the earth
II. In years defaced
III. The Market-Girl
Finzi: I Said to Love, Op. 19b
- Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Clifford Benson (piano)
I. I need not go
II. At Middle-Field Gate in February
III. Two Lips
IV. In five-score summers
V. For Life I had never cared greatly
VI. I said to Love
Finzi: A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14
- Martyn Hill (tenor), Clifford Benson (piano)
Group 1 No 1. A Young Man's Exhortation
Group 1 No 2. Ditty
Group 1 No 3. Budmouth Dears
Finzi: Before and After Summer, Op. 16
- Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Clifford Benson (piano)
I. Childhood among the Ferns
II. Before and After Summer
III. The Self-Unseeing