One of the adjectives often used to describe the music of Gerald Finzi, the composer featured on this Naxos disc, is "summery". There always seems to be something of an "is there honey still for tea?" element to it--nostalgic, restrained, slightly melancholy and sepia-tinted. Peter Donohoe's performance of theEclogue (1929) is stylistically spot-on and catches this elegiac beauty with crystal clarity. But the surprise on this disc is the extent to which the other pieces are made to reveal quite another more turbulent and anguished side to the composer as well. Tim Hugh obviously responds to these elements in the Cello Concerto (1955) and gives a passionate performance which is unashamedly bold and confrontational, and the result is all the better for it. The same is also true of Donohoe in the dark-hued Grand Fantasia (1927/1953); he moves from gorgeous lyricism to something more spiky and angry, with coherence and intelligence. Howard Griffiths' conducting is clear and committed, and the Northern Sinfonia sounds on top form. --Warwick Thompson