Vaughan Williams Today 1/4

This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at Ralph Vaughan
Williams, one of the UK’s most significant music figures, as part
of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season, marking the 150th
anniversary of his birth.


Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of the UK's most significant
musical figures. This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at
this much loved composer as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams
Today' season, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth Donald
will be telling Vaughan Williams' life story and exploring his
music in fascinating detail over the course of four weeks and
twenty programmes. Interleaved with Donald's in-depth narrative
accounts, some of our leading authorities on Vaughan Williams
will be joining him to share new perspectives. They'll be
unpacking the overlooked and less well known aspects of a
composer whose body of work and diverse interests have made such
an enduring imprint on British cultural life.


The first week of this landmark series will focus on Vaughan
Williams' formative years, and his earliest works. It could be
said that Vaughan Williams was pre-destined to be a leading
figure in the musical life of Great Britain. He was born in 1872
with, in his own words, "a small silver spoon in his mouth" and
his mother was part of the Wedgwood and Darwin dynasties. Charles
Darwin was Vaughan Williams' great uncle. Raised, after his
father's early death, in the matriarchal family home Leith Hill
Place in Surrey, young Ralph was encouraged in the pursuit of
knowledge from an early age. The values he was exposed to growing
up are reflected in his social awareness later on. He wrote music
for every kind of setting, from the concert hall to the village
hall. We’ll follow his development from his very first attempt at
writing music, Robin's Nest, to the assurance of his London
Symphony.


Music Featured:


The Lark Ascending (excerpt) A vision of aeroplanes (excerpt) The
Robin’s Nest Quintet in D major - I: Allegro moderato Bucolic
Suite - II. Andante; IV. Finale Songs of Travel - 3. The Roadside
Fire; 4. Youth and Love In the Fen Country Songs of Travel - 1.
The vagabond Heroic elegy & Triumphal Epilogue - I: Andante
sostenuto Folk Songs from the Eastern Counties - No 2; No 13; No
15 Norfolk Rhapsody No 1 in E minor Five mystical songs - The
Call Toward the Unknown Region The Water Mill The last invocation
A Sea Symphony - III: The Waves; I: A song for all Seas (excerpt)
The Garden of Proserpine (excerpt) Five mystical songs - Love
bade me welcome The Wasps - Overture On Wenlock Edge - I: On
Wenlock Edge; III: Is my team ploughing? The sky above the roof
L’amour de Moy Quant li louseignolz jolis String Quartet No 1 in
G minor - I: Allegro moderato Fantasia on a theme by Thomas
Tallis - I: Largo sostenuto Phantasy Quintet - IV: Burlesca, alla
moderato A London Symphony - Scherzo Linden Lea Serenade in A
minor - IV: Romance Harnham Down On Wenlock Edge - Oh, when I was
in love with you; Bredon Hill A Sea Symphony - II. On the Beach
at Night Alone


Presented by Donald Macleod Producer Johannah Smith


For full track listings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016rjd


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z