An evening of Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams The Wasps Overture
Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 5
Andrew Manze conductor
Roberto Ruisi violin
The Hallé
There’s a reason that Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending consistently tops lists of people’s most loved music - its soaring melody is transcendently beautiful and transports the listener right out of the concert hall to a rural idyll. The composers knock for emotive solos continues in his fifth symphony, with beautiful melodies for the oboe and violin, and with the finale building up to an ecstatic climax before finally allowing us to leave the concert in a more contemplative mood.