Classical Music - Musicians of All Saints

It is telling that the world premiere of English composer Gerald Finzi’s best-loved work, his 1949 clarinet concerto, took place in Hereford, a town not famous for being at the cutting edge of high culture. Finzi only enjoyed the national and international acclaim and fame he deserved late in his life, when he already knew he was suffering from a fatal illness, and his fame has grown since his untimely demise in 1956. Born in London of an Italian-Jewish father and a German-Jewish mother in 1901, Finzi is one of the most characteristically ‘English’ of the 20th century composers, whose elegiac, pastoral melodies are growing in stature with time. A great lover of nature, who first caught the public eye putting Thomas Hardy’s verse to music, Finzi was a master of counterpoint and harmony, and his pieces all recall the gentle curves of the English countryside. Listen to his music, and you can practically smell the cowpats. The Musicians of All Saints have chosen the clarinet concerto, a masterpiece of sustained legato melody and virtuosic figuration, as the finale in the latest in their fine series of concerts in Lewes’ flagship venue.

As usual the concert is an eclectic mix of pieces, with Haydn’s Symphony No 19 in D Major, Hezhan Hao and Chen Gang’s Butterfly Lovers and Debussy’s Danses Sacre et Profane (featuring harp soloist Ruth Potter) preceding Finzi’s work. Dominic Nunns directs proceedings. AG