2(II=picc).2(1).corA.2.bcl.2.dbn(ad lib)-4.3.3.1-timp.perc:cyms-
harp-strings
"I love New Year’s Eve" wrote Finzi "though I think it’s the saddest time of the year". Of New Year Music, he added "Here then, are no merry-makings and such-like, but something of the mood which is well suggested by the words of Robert Bridges - "when the stars were shining / Fared I forth alone". From the softest of openings, Finzi conjures an atmospheric picture in sound, climaxing in a broad chorale reminiscent of a carol, before the opening tranquillity returns to this piece of high solemnity.