Dies natalis

What might a child, granted the power of adult perception and reason but retaining absolute innocence, wonder at the moment of its birth? That’s the question answered in the philosophical musings and rhapsodic music of Gerald Finzi’s solo cantata Dies Natalis. Seventeenth-century metaphysical poet Thomas Traherne supplies texts whose Christianity remains always beneath the surface, leaving only the quiet suggestion that the child may be the infant Jesus. An orchestral “Intrada” —bittersweet and ruminative, but surging with suppressed intensity—sets the tone for four songs for string orchestra and solo soprano or tenor. The recitative-like freedom of “Rhapsody” reflects its prose text. The music evolves with seeming spontaneity, slipping from chant-like simplicity to almost operatic declamation. Strings stir into swarming urgency at the start of “The Rapture”—an angelic haze of energy that leads into an ecstatic dance of joy. The poet’s many exclamation marks are reflected in the soloist’s arresting upward leaps and high-lying line. The dizzying motion comes to rest in the cycle’s slow-movement, “Wonder”—a tender song that responds to the regular verses of Traherne’s poetry with another freely evolving form. The music’s shy lyricism blooms gradually with confidence. After this ecstatic freedom, the musical formality and restraint of “The Salutation”, a Bach-inspired chorale prelude, is a startling climax. A steady bassline anchors the soaring voice above, the thread between them connecting Finzi’s cantata itself to the long tradition of Western Christian music.