Eclogue for Piano and Strings

This post has been linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

 In 1901 Gerald Finzi, a descendant of Italian-Jewish immigrants, was born in England. I thought his last name was 'Finsey' until I saw it written down. He's one of a batch of 20th century English composers that I'm fond of.

His 'Eclogue for Piano and Strings' is something I've returned to repeatedly over the last 20 years or so. It was written between 1925 and 1929; which is to say, after Britain's Pyrrhic victory in the First World War, and before the utter exhaustion of the Second.

I always hope to hear in a piece of music an echo of the time in which it was written. In the case of the Eclogue, I hear a traumatized nation hoping the world might be beautiful again; but also accepting that it might not.
Eclogue for Piano and Strings  (10 minutes)