芬濟: 大提琴協奏曲,作品40 保羅．華金斯 大提琴 安德魯．戴維斯爵士 指揮 Sir Andrew Davis / Finzi: Cello Concerto, Op. 40

A broad and meticulous selection of orchestral
works and concertos by Gerald Finzi is here
matched by a first-class cast of soloists, supported
by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction
of Sir Andrew Davis, expert in British repertoire and
conducting this year's Last Night of the Proms.
Paul Watkins displays exhilarating virtuosity in 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.