Stanford, C V - Orchestral Songs - Finley, Gerald (baritone)
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GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER / CATEGORY EDITOR'S CHOICE ...As I gushed when this breathtaking disc came out earlier this year, these Stanford song-cycles have for me been almost the musical equivalent of fantasy football (the ultimate pub bore's game of nominating your dream team, regardless of cost, contracts or location) for many years. I grew up with the buccaneering excitement of the Benjamin Luxon recording, so famous that it deterred competitors for more than 20 years. As the years rolled by and still no challenger emerged, I would imagine favourite baritones taking up the gauntlet. Simon Keenlyside, Bryn Terfel – I wonder why I never thought of Gerald Finley.
Always elegant, but heroic and heartfelt, Finley is the gentleman-officer where Luxon was the lusty sea-dog. Finley has a way of homing straight in to the centre of the notes for maximum power without sacrificing nobility. Luxon's slight roughness around the stave lent him a marvellous, characterful presence. Each approach is different, both are absolutely thrilling. But then, Finley has Richard Hickox at the helm and the elements are in every bar. You can almost feel the waves crashing over the ship, an effect heightened by Chandos's superb sound. The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales are on Armada-beating form.
If the choral work The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet is not on the same level as Songs of the Sea and Songs of the Fleet, it's interesting to have. And Finley proves, as did Luxon all those years ago, that with a world-class performer, these Stanford songs can seem as stirring as almost anything by more lauded English composers of his day...
James Inverne, Gramophone)
Gerald Finley, baritone
BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Richard Hickox
Charles Villiers Stanford
1-5. Songs of the Fleet, Op. 117
6-11. The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet, Op. 24
12-15. Songs of the Sea, Op. 91