Finzi - James Gilchrist - The Scotsman

James Gilchrist's pure and penetrating tenor voice is the perfect vehicle for songs as quintessentially English as Gerald Finzi's two Thomas Hardy settings, Till Earth Outwears and A Young Man's Exhortation, and the charming miscellaneous settings - from Christina Rosetti to Ivor Gurney - that make up the posthumously published Oh Fair to See. Finzi's sensitive treatments of the texts, uncluttered but illuminating, are matched by singing that captures fully the unfaltering flow of the music. In each of the three sets, pianist Anna Tilbrook accompanies Gilchrist with eloquent and instinctive simplicity. This is a worthy addition to Linn's growing catalogue of quality vocal releases.