Three Short Elegies

These settings of the 16/17th century poet William Drummond were composed early in Finzi’s career and, in focusing on human transience, can be seen to set the elegiac tone for many of his later works. The three miniatures have many familiar musical fingerprints which Finzi aficionados will relish. As with all of the composer’s unaccompanied part songs, the settings are free and need careful thought and interpretation to make the most of his often gestural approach which, when handled with sensitivity, puts the music on to a higher plane than the bare notes on the page might suggest.