John Carol Case, Robert Tear, Neil Jenkins, Howard Ferguson - Finzi: Before and after Summer, Till Earth Outwears, I said to Love (2007)

If you know the great orchestral works of English modernist composer Gerald Finzi -- his cello and clarinet concertos, his Eclogue, and Grand Fantasia & Toccata for piano and orchestra -- you don't know the half of Finzi. And even if you know his great setting of Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality" for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, you still don't know the best of Finzi. For the best of Finzi, try this two-disc set of his five-song cycle to poems by Thomas Hardy. Like Schubert with Müller, Finzi had a particular affinity for Hardy and his special brand of pantheistic pastoral pessimism and his settings have a depth of understanding and an authenticity of utterance that make them especially effective and affecting. In these 1968 and 1971 recordings of Before & After Summer, Till Earth Outwears, I said to Love, A young Man's Exhortation, and Earth and Air and Rain, Finzi's aching melodies, longing harmonies, strong rhythms, and apt text settings show the composer to be a true blood brother of Hardy. In these determined, dedicated but not always as polished as they might be performances by tenor Neil Jenkins and baritone John Carol Case accompanied by able pianist Howard Ferguson, Finzi's Hardy cycles are given fully convincing interpretations that will please his fans and possibly persuade those who don't already know his music. Lyrita's stereo sound is clear and detailed.