Six songs for baritone and piano
Repertoire Note Finzi planned several volumes of songs in addition to those published in his lifetime, including at least two collections of settings of Hardy’s poetry.
I Said to Love was given its first performance at Finzi’s memorial concert in 1957, prompting Vaughan Williams to particularly praise the first and last songs,
I need to go and
I said to Love, which "hit the nail in my head right away". Three songs in the collection date from Finzi’s final year:
At Middle-Field Gate shows the composer exploring an adventurous harmonic pallette with whole tone configurations,
For Life I had never cared greatly has a gentle tunefulness which disguises the skill required to achieve such natural intimacy, and
I said to Love provided the composer with a violent, vigorous contrast to his work at scoring
In terra pax.
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