In Terra Pax (Christmas Scene) FINZI GERALD

Classique

Description :

In terra pax, Christmas Scene for soprano & baritone soli, chorus & orchestra (1954/6). The text conflates Robert Bridges’s poem Noel: Christmas Eve (1913) and Luke 2: 8-14. Finzi suggested that the Nativity ‘becomes a vision seen by a wanderer on a dark and frosty Christmas Eve, in our own familiar landscape’. In terra pax is a masterpiece in miniature, Finzi’s pacifism at its heart, and his belief that men and women of goodwill should live harmoniously. Weaving through the music are three ideas: the pealing of the bells with their joyous message, a phrase from the carol The First Nowell, and the alleluia refrain from the hymn Lasst uns erfreuen. Christmas Scene for Soprano and Baritone Soli, small chorus, Harp or Piano, Cymbals and Strings.