Four Finalities
for female voice, cor anglais and harp (2012)
duration: 20’
text by Ross Baglin
GRT • 160
YouTube (1.Footsteps)
score available from
Australian Music Centre
recording available
Mondrian Interiors
Jessica Fotinos, ANAM
ABC Classics, digital, 2015
reviews
“Ross Baglin’s poems set in Four Finalities for female voice, cor anglais and harp take their cues from the refined imagism of T. S. Eliot. The catalogues of luggage, clothes, furniture, snow and flowers—including snow filling flowers!—; the ruminations on “the time / It takes a finger to decide” and the peal of bucolic church bells are put to good use by Greenbaum. The first song of the cycle, with soprano Lotte Betts-Dean throwing herself into its swelling, keening melody, could be one of the more soulful Eurovision winners. The sparing interjections of the cor anglais (David Reichelt) fit the charm of these pensive poems wonderfully and constitute some of the most captivating moments in the cycle.”
Matthew Lorenzon, Real Time Arts, May 2014
“Four Finalities for voice, harp and cor anglais (2012) is a song cycle with a text by Ross Baglin, a poet with whom Greenbaum has collaborated over many years. The theme is “snow” but the treatment is much more abstract and philosophical... the four-movement piece has a pleasing textural structure: voice with harp and cor anglais; voice with harp; voice with cor anglais and then a return to the opening combination. The most impressive movement for me was the second, characterised by a compelling vocal melodicism and interesting counterpoint between voice and instrument.”
Michael Hannan, Music Trust E–zine, 5 June 2016
“Four Finalities is a song cycle written in collaboration with poet Ross Baglin and performed by mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean. The delicate interplay between Betts-Dean’s forcefully ethereal voice and the harp is utterly captivating, enhanced by a rich and spacious recording sonic.”
Lisa MacKinney, Limelight Magazine, 29 July 2016
Four Finalities for voice, harp and cor anglais (2012) is a song cycle with a text by Ross Baglin, a poet with whom Greenbaum has collaborated over many years. The theme is “snow” but the treatment is much more abstract and philosophical...the four-movement piece has a pleasing textural structure: voice with harp and cor anglais; voice with harp; voice with cor anglais and then a return to the opening combination. The most impressive movement for me was the second, characterised by a compelling vocal melodicism and interesting counterpoint between voice and instrument.”
IsraBox, December 2021