Finzi: Cello Concerto, Op. 40

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Sir Andrew Davis’s feeling for the composer’s sensitive, harmonically conservative language is abundantly clear in these vivid readings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Soloists too are well... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2018, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 7th Sep 2018
Catalogue No: CHSA5214
Label: Chandos
Length: 70 minutes

BBC Music Magazine

November 2018

Concerto Choice
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2018
Presto Recording of the Week

21st December 2018

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Finzi: Cello Concerto, Op. 40

Work length37:39

$9.00

$11.60

$15.75

Paul Watkins (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis
Recorded: 3 and 4 February 2018
Recording Venue: Watford Colosseum, United Kingdom

I. Allegro moderato

Track length16:14

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

II. Andante quieto

Track length12:17

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

III. Rondo. Adagio - Allegro giocoso

Track length9:08

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Finzi: Eclogue, Op. 10

Work length9:18

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Louis Lortie (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis

Finzi: Nocturne (New Year Music)

Work length10:10

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis

Finzi: Grand Fantasia and Toccata, Op. 38

Work length13:30

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Louis Lortie (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis

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A broad and meticulous selection of orchestral works and concertos by Gerald Finzi is here matched by a first-class cast of soloists, supported by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis, expert in British repertoire and conducting this year’s Last Night of the Proms. Paul Watkins displays exhilarating virtuosity in the Cello Concerto, a central work on this album, composed in the wake of the devastating news that Finzi was terminally ill, but yet filled with ‘vigorous, almost turbulent thematic material’, as he wrote in the programme note for the work’s premiere at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 1955. Louis Lortie, for his part, tackles the high-spirited and majestic Grand Fantasia and Toccata, the Fantasia originally conceived as part of a concerto for piano and strings and first performed on two pianos. This contrasts with the more restrained Eclogue for Piano and Strings, timeless, and blessed with a mood of benediction. This album also features the orchestral Nocturne (subtitled ‘New Year Music’), dark, misty, and at times ironic.

Reviews

November 2018

Sir Andrew Davis’s feeling for the composer’s sensitive, harmonically conservative language is abundantly clear in these vivid readings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Soloists too are well chosen. Cellist Paul Watkins proves a master of expressing powerful feelings through the prism of British reserve. Admirers of Finzi’s music can buy without hesitation.

February 2019

Chandos's technical team of Brian Pidgeon, Jonathan Cooper and Rosanna Fish match Davis's heated expressive qualities with a very warm image that fills the audio spectrum.

21st December 2018

Paul Watkins’s heartfelt commitment to the music is matched only by that of Louis Lortie in the exquisite Eclogue and sparkling Grand Fantasia and Toccata, with the less-heard but captivating New Year Music rounding off an album that unquestionably deserves a place in every music-lover's collection.

7th September 2018

Watkins’ performance, which manages to be warmly expressive while remaining slightly detached, captures that mood perfectly. Nothing is exaggerated or over-assertive...allowing Finzi’s very individual musical voice to speak for itself, as it does so clearly in all the other performances on this disc too.

November 2018

Paul Watkins’s captivating performance, supported devotedly by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under an inspired Andrew Davis and captured in opulently detailed sound, radiates insight and conviction in every bar. With first-class couplings, this is a Finzi disc to cherish.

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