The Lark Ascending is a Classic FM perennial but there is so much more to the English composer – from elegies to the first world war and symphonies full of dissonant rage to folk songs and fantasias, writes conductor Andrew Manze
Ask people about Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year, and you might be told either that he is hands down Britain’s favourite composer or a parochial embarrassment whose music sounds like “a cow looking over a gate” (to quote one critic). Both judgements are usually based on just two pieces: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis and The Lark Ascending, which have appeared at or near the top of the Classic FM Hall of Fame poll for 20 years. In 1958, in the last year of his life, he was unquestionably the grand old man of English music, yet his last major work, the ninth symphony – to my mind a masterpiece – was written off by many critics as old hat.
Vaughan Williams, whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year, has always been in and out of fashion. Many listeners have an “a-ha” moment, whether it be one of enlightenment or rejection. Mine, the former, took place listening to his fifth symphony. Written during the dark days of 1942, it left its audience speechless, tearful and grateful for its message of peace and hope. But I knew none of this when, a blank-slate teenager, I put needle to LP and within seconds – a low drone in the strings, two visionary horns, some dreamy violins – I was hooked. That will not make much sense unless you have heard it. So, take a moment out of your busy day. If the symphony’s first minute is not your thing, listen to the very last, a wordless alleluia the like of which is heard at the gates of heaven. If you are still not charmed, keep reading. There are many sides to Vaughan Williams, as I quickly found.
