[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA66876

£13.99

Recorded on 8-10 February 1996
Recording Engineers
ANTONY HOWELL
JULIAN MILLARD
Recording Producer
MARK BROWN
Design
TERRY SHANNON
Executive Producers
JOANNA GAMBLE
NICK FLOWER
© Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MCMXCVI

Duration: 66'55
DDD
Front illustration: Sunrise through Trees by Harold Hitchcock

GERALD FINZI (1901-1956)

Dies Natalis
Intimations of Immortality

JOHN MARK AINSLEY tenor
CORYDON SINGERS
CORYDON ORCHESTRA
MATTHEW BEST conductor
Contents:

    Dies Natalis Op 8 [24'22]
    for tenor solo and string orchestra (Thomas Traherne)
  1. I Intrada [5'01]
  2. II Rhapsody (Recitativo stromentato) [6'31]
  3. III The Rapture (Danza) [3'35]
  4. IV Wonder (Arioso) [4'23]
  5. V The Salutation (Aria) [4'37]

    Intimations of Immortality Op 29 [42'15]
    Ode for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra (William Wordsworth)

  6. Andante sostenuto [5'18]
  7. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream [3'25]
  8. The Rainbow comes and goes [2'28]
  9. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song [4'22]
  10. Ye blessed Creatures, I have heard the call [0'58]
  11. Oh evil day! if I were sullen [2'09]
  12. - But there's a Tree, of many, one [2'28]
  13. Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting [3'42]
  14. Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own [1'49]
  15. O joy! that in our embers [3'06]
  16. But for those first affections [4'09]
  17. Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song! [3'56]
  18. And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves [4'23]

'The performance by tenor John Mark Ainsley and Corydon Singers weds the ecstatic to the sublime' (The New Yorker)

'Rich, glowing performances in a class apart' (BBC Music Magazine)

'With such ardent, beautiful singing that communicates deep respect for the music, it's a performance to treasure … [a] ravishingly poignant release' (Soundscapes, Australia)

'I shall treasure this recording' (Organists' Review)

'There have been several excellent previous recordings of Dies natalis but John Mark Ainsley's rendition is as fine as the best of them. This recent release is indispensable to the Finzi aficionado and highly recommended to all who enjoy the early twentieth-century English school of composers' (Fanfare, USA)

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