June 2014 – Salisbury Recorded Music Society

The Society’s current season ended in fine style with a double bill: one part on Puccini’s Tosca and the other on the English composer, Gerald Finzi. Tosca is of course a very well known opera but what is less well appreciated is how broadly similar most productions are. Vic Riches explained that this was because Puccini left detailed instructions on how it should be performed and most productions followed them. It received its premier in January 1900 at a time of unrest in Italy and the violent nature of the plot – with torture and a firing squad graphically depicted – meant a troubled start. However, it is now a much loved part of the operatic repertoire.

The English composer, Gerald Finzi, is by contrast less well known and yet deserves to be heard more. He is perhaps best known for his songs and we heard ‘In years defaced’ and ‘Let us garlands bring’ the latter performed by Bryn Terfel. The second movement from his Cello Concerto opus 40, performed by Raphael Wallfisch under the baton of Vernon Handley, was played together with Romance for String Orchestra opus 11. Both are fine works and worth listening to if there is an opportunity.

Ed Tinline, joint chair of the Society, said it had been a successful year ‘fulfilling the Society’s purpose of bringing generally lesser known pieces and composers to a wider public’. Members heard music by Bartok, a variety of Scandinavian composers and the French composer Dutilleux as well as more well known names such as Wagner, Ravel and Schumann. Numbers attending had increased slightly on previous years following the change to Monday evenings which is encouraging he added.