Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Vaughan Williams in the 1920s
Monday 13 June 2005 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)
Repeated: Monday 20 June 2005 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)
In 1919 Ralph Vaughan Williams, by now nearly 50 years old, was demobilised from the British Army. His widow Ursula has since written that his work as a medical orderly on the French front had given him a vivid awareness of how men died. But undaunted by his experiences, he returned to pick up from where he'd left off in 1914, immersing himself in British musical life, and beginning a decade of composition that would become one of his most prolific.
The expressive range of his music developed, and his compositions reached new heights of visionary, mystical, ardour. Donald Macleod looks into this hugely significant period for one of Britain's greatest composers.
Playlist
Down Ampney (Come down, O love divine)
Choir of Trinity College Cambridge / Christopher Allsop (organ) /
Richard Marlow (director)
Conifer Records 75605 51249-2
String Quartet no 1 in G minor (rev 1921)
Maggini Quartet
Naxos 8.555300 tr 5-8
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
ASMF / Neville Marriner (conductor)
Philips 442 427-2 tr 2
O Clap your Hands (Psalm 47)
Corydon Singers and Orchestra / Matthew Best (conductor)
Hyperion CDA 66655 tr 11
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