Earth and Air and Rain [Import]

Stephen Varcoe (Performer), Gerald Finzi (Composer), Clifford Benson (Performer), Martyn Hill (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Stephen Varcoe, Clifford Benson, Martyn Hill
• Composer: Gerald Finzi
• Audio CD (November 11, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B000002ZI5
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #604,339 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: Summer Schemes

2. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: When I Set Out For Lyonesse

3. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: Waiting Both

4. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: The Phantom

5. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: So I Have Fared

6. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: Rollicum-rorum

7. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: To Lizbie Brown

8. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: The Clock Of The Years

9. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: In A Churchyard

10. Earth And Air And Rain Op. 15: Proud Songsters

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: A Young Man's Exhortation

2. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Ditty

3. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Budmouth Dears

4. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Her Temple

5. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: The Comet At Yell'ham

6. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Shortening Days

7. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: The Sigh

8. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Former Beauties

9. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: Transformations

10. A Young Man's Exhortation Op. 14: The Dance Continued

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Attention all singers! Finzi is a master at setting texts., December 16, 1999

By 

Kevin Lash (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earth and Air and Rain (Audio CD)

Gerald Finzi's song-cycles are the most celebrated works in his small and carefully composed output. His settings of poetry by Thomas Hardy, not easy words to tackle, stand alongside the similarly-fused art of Faure & Verlaine or Wolf & Morike. The eager student of English song should discover in Finzi something much more exciting than Quilter's or Head's efforts; he and Vaughan Williams are clearly at the apex of early-20thC. songwriting in the English tradition. I can think of few works that appeal in such a pastoral, largely diatonic way, yet prove their worth as well-wrought compositions. This is Finzi all over. Try his choral music by the Finzi Singers on Chandos as well.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pastoral perfection, February 15, 2006

By 

Mack Garner "muskrat" (Maryville, Tn.,) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earth and Air and Rain (Audio CD)

These are settings of words of Thomas Hardy by the early twentieth century English composer Gerald Finzi. They are much like the song cycles of Vaughan Williams or George Butterworth--lyric, not very harmonically adventurous. The poems are typical Hardy, about as depressing as possible. The poems are mostly obscure; excepy for "Channel Firing" I had not seen any of them before I heard this album. Finzi's music perfectly fits the words, and the voices of Varcoe and Hill perfectly fit the music. These songs are the best of the English lieder before Britten. i think they belong on the saame shelf with Brahms and Schubert. This is a really tremendous album, and if you think you might even remotely be interested in it, I urge you to acquire it at once.