Finzi – ‘Intimations of Immortality’

Anonymous

The London Chorus returns to the stage alongside the Elgar Sinfonia for an evening of English music at its most profound.

At the heart of the programme is Gerald Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality — a large-scale cantata for tenor, chorus and orchestra setting Wordsworth’s great ode on childhood, memory and the fading of transcendence into adult life. Finzi laboured over the work for nearly three decades before its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in 1950, and it stands as one of the most deeply felt achievements in the English choral tradition.

The concert is completed by a selection of Elgar Songs and Gordon Jacob’s vivid orchestration of Elgar’s Organ Sonata — making for a programme that places Finzi’s masterpiece in rich company.