GERALD FINZI (1901-1956): Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 40, Grand Fantasia and Toccata for Piano and Orchestra in D Minor, Eclogue for Piano and String Orchestra in F, Op. 10, Nocturne (New Year Music) in C Sharp Minor.

Description: The Cello Concerto, a central work on this album, composed in the wake of the devastating news that Finzi was terminally ill, but yet filled with ‘vigorous, almost turbulent thematic material’, as he wrote in the programme note for the work’s premiere at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 1955. Louis Lortie, for his part, tackles the high-spirited and majestic Grand Fantasia and Toccata, the Fantasia originally conceived as part of a concerto for piano and strings and first performed on two pianos. This contrasts with the more restrained Eclogue for Piano and Strings, timeless, and blessed with a mood of benediction. This album also features the orchestral Nocturne (subtitled ‘New Year Music’), dark, misty, and at times ironic. Paul Watkins (cello), Louis Lortie (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Davis.