The English composer Gerald Finzi was born in London in 1901. From 1930 to 1933 Finzi was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, which he left to live in the country and to devote to himself fully to composition. The Cello Concerto, begun in 1951 when Finzi learned that he was suffering from an incurable illness, is one of his finest works, with the bleak opening movement appearing to reflect the turmoil of his personal circumstances. The Eclogue for piano and strings was composed much earlier, in 1929, and is the slow movement of an unfinished Piano Concerto, but it remained unperformed throughout his life. The Grand Fantasia dates from the same period and was also intended to be part of the projected Piano Concerto, the Toccata being added in the early 1950s.