Reviews & Articles

During his lifetime, Gerald Finzi was blessed with having his music performed by some of the finest English singers, instrumentalists, choirs and orchestras; partly, no doubt, because his music is really approachable and satisfying to play and sing, and partly because...

There was a time, it seemed, when BBC Radio 3 broadcast nothing else but songs by Gerald Finzi. At least that’s how I remember it. When my father would turn on the radio at our family home in Barnet and shout “Composer?” round the house (a traditional family game),...

Introduction The very limited existing literature on George Butterworth pays little attention to the reception of his music. Michael Barlow’s Whom the Gods Love is biographical in focus, ending its narrative with Butterworth’s death in 1916. Ian Copley’s centennial...

The tenor, Wilfred Brown, will, for many listeners, have a still unassailable position as an interpreter of Gerald Finzi’s songs, in particular Dies Natalis. Many consider his recording of this work, in 1963 under the direction of the composer’s son Christopher, to be...