Tuesday, May 24, 2011

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)

5 comments:

Magister Christianus said...

You had me at "eclogue." As soon as I saw that word in your post title, I immediately thought of Vergil's collection of ten bucolic poems that I had the good fortune to read with a brilliant professor when I was an undergrad. I used to say that I did not know who was the greater genius, Vergil for writing such lines, or Prof. Damen for explicating all the nuances and beauty for us.

At any rate, I followed the link and am listening to the piece even as I type this. It is so peaceful. Thank you for sharing.

kkollwitz said...

"You had me at "eclogue."

Heh...

"As soon as I saw that word in your post title, I immediately thought of Vergil's collection of ten bucolic poems..."

And until recently I only knew the term in its musical sense.

Euripides said...

Simply artful - in the true sense of the word - appealing to the aesthetic.

Barb Schoeneberger said...

This is a lovely work. Although I was a music major in college, I have never heard of this composer. He is blessedly harmonic.

kkollwitz said...

"Although I was a music major in college, I have never heard of this composer."

There are so many over the last 400 years, it's almost impossible to keep up.