Aldo Finzi (1897-1945)

[M. Henriksen]

The Italian composer Aldo Finzi was until recently a totally unknown name to me. But after listening to some of his music I think he deserves a mention on the forum.
Personally, I find Finzi's music much in debt to Respighi, with a hint of Richard Strauss here and there. Finzi obviously loved to compose for a large orchestra often including the piano for added effect, and the symphonic poem was his preferred musical form. He experienced a lot of personal distress during WWII, which led to his premature death in 1947, and especially the Il Salmo for chorus and orchestra reflects these difficult times.
The Aldo Finzi Diacronia Association was established in 1998 led by Bruno Finzi, the son of the composer. They have established a quite informative website about Aldo Finzi, so I will not use this post to repeat all the information already written there. (The composer must not be mistaken for the other Aldo Finzi, an Italian politician)
Have a read!

http://www.aldo-finzi.com/ENG/Home.html

Bel Air Music in cooperation with the Aldo Finzi Association has released several CDs with music by the Finzi coupled with various couplings by other composers.
As far as I can see, all releases are still available, wether you prefer downloads or CDs. Check out Bel Air Music, amazon, MDT, itunes etc. The website of Bel Air Music also contains the sleeve notes for each CD. There is also a CD with chamber music from Nuova Era. The label Preludio have also released 2 CDs plus a 3 CD Best of-set.

The following compositions are available (I might have missed some):

Orchestral:
Pastoralina - 1920; Piano piece orchestrated for small orchestra by Gian Paolo Sanzogno
Cirano di Bergerac - Symphonic poem, 1929
Inni alla notte (Hymns to the Night) - Symphonic poem, 1932
L'infinito - Symphonic poem, 1933
Interludio - for piano and chamber orchestra, 1936-37
Nunquam - Sinfonia Romana - Symphonic poem, 1937
Danza - For orchestra with two pianos and two saxophones
Come all'ultimo suo ciascuno artista - Symphonic poem, 1942-43
Il Salmo - Psalm for chorus and orchestra, 1944-45
Shylock - Overture

Chamber/Instrumental/Songs:
Violin Sonata
String Quartet
Berceuse - for cello and piano
Duo Valzer lenti - for piano
Pavana - for piano, 1920
Toccata - for piano, 1930
Preludio e fuga - for organ, 1944
Liriche - Songs for soprano and piano
Pastoralina - for cello and piano
Tempo di fox-trot - for piano
Tempo di Marcia - for piano
Piccola berceuse - for viola and piano

Not recorded:
Il Chiostro (The Cloister) - for female voices and orchestra
La Serenata al Vento - Comic opera
Shylock - Opera (unfinished)

Where to start? My suggestion would be the symphonic poems Inni alla notte (Hymns to the night - 1932) or Cirano di Bergerac (1929).

The Russian State Orchestra conducted by Dimitry Yablonsky and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine conducted by Nicola Giulani are playing on the records that I have purchased. The sound is not topnotch, and I find the string sections a bit thin at times. But they are not at all bad. Maybe Aldo Finzi could be of interest for the Naxos Italian series or Maestro Noseda and Chandos!?

Useful links:

Bel Air Music
http://www.belairmusic.com/

Preludio (Scores and CDs)
http://www.preludiomusic.com/a/aldo-finzi-48-a.htm

I would guess that alberto has something to say about Aldo Finzi!?


Morten

[Gerhard Griesel]

Thanks to Morten for alerting us to this composer. This is really worth checking out. For me it was even nicer when one composer changed into two composers. I initially thought I had one of his PCs, only to discover when checking that there is yet another Finzi: Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956). Of the latter I have a PC called Eclogue on an EMI label with PCs by Vaughan Williams and Delius.

[JimL]

Gerald was an English composer.  Since there are many British nationals of Italian extraction (and have been since at least the Renaissance) I wonder if Aldo and Gerald are distant relatives?

[eschiss1]

I've wondered that too. (If I may go way beyond the remit of this forum just to point out a coincidence consider another case - Muzio and Aldo Clementi (1925-2011)! The coincidence I refer to is I hope obvious...)

[britishcomposer]

I recorded a radio portrait on Aldo Finzi last year. It was organised by the Society "Musica Reanimata" which has done a lot to re-awaken interest in composers who suffered from the Nazi regime.
It was stated that the Finzis are a widely spread family but Gerald and Aldo were not related. Some of Gerald's interesting forefathers are mentioned in Stephen Banfield's book. Proof for the influence of the Finzi family name is also the novel "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" by Giorgio Bassani.

[Mark Thomas]

I downloaded some of Aldo Finzi's orchestral works from Amazon and I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised by what I've listened to so far. Morten characterisation of Respighi with a dash of Richard Strauss is a very fair description. They do strike me at first listen as rather rambling works, but his way with orchestral colour is often quite beguiling and I look forward to getting to know these pieces better in the next few days.

[alberto]

I have a much lesser knowledge about Aldo Finzi than Morten. I knew A.Finzi at first thanks to a 1996 "Nuova Era" Cd (a "big" string quartet, a violin-piano sonata, a piano work, some songs (also in French and in English). Later I added the Symphonic Poem "Numquam-sinfonia Romana" (on a "BelAir Music" Cd, oddly coupled to Dvorak's New world). Worthy music, finely crafted. I would add Debussy to his influences, at least in chamber music; and I know just one symphonic work, IMHO very Straussian.
Sadly I have to consider that, before the Nuova Era Cd, I had never heard a note by A.Finzi. And before reading the links provided by Morten I had never heard of an actual performance of Finzi (except, thanks to the Bel Air Music Cd booklet, the world premiere of "Numquam"...in 2000), or read an article about him.

[Delicious Manager]

I often hear more Strauss in Finzi than Respighi. I couldn't resist mentioning a composer who was previously unknown to me who really DOES sound a lot like Respighi - Luigi Mancinelli (1848 - 1921). Or perhaps, given the dates, it's Respighi who sounds like Mancinelli! There's a wonderful new Naxos disc of two colourful orchestral works, the Suite veneziane and extracts from the incidental music to Cleopatra.
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573074

I recommend it highly.

[eschiss1]

... was just reading today of Mancinelli Jr., at that. Hrm!