BaL 15.10.22 - Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 a.m.
Building a Library
Kate Kennedy chooses her favourite recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending.

In Vaughan Williams’s modal and folk music-inflected The Lark Ascending a solo violin takes flight above the orchestra evoking for many the very essence of an idealised English countryside. But this popular work, written on the eve of the First World War, has perhaps inevitably become freighted with nostalgia for both a lost generation and a rural way of life which was soon to vanish forever.


Available versions:-

Ik-Hwan Bae, Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia, Glen Barton Cortese *
Hugh Bean, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Nicola Benedetti, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Michael Bochmann, English String Orchestra, William Boughton
Iona Brown, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Sarah Chang, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Oscar Chausow, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel *
James Clark, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, John Wilson
David Coucheron, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano *
Bradley Creswick, Northern Sinfonia, Richard Hickox *
Michael Dauth, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth (SACD)
Michael Davis, London Symphony Orchestra, Bryden Thomson
James Ehnes, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Julia Fischer, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Yakov Kreizberg *
Lyn Fletcher, Halle Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder
Thomas Gould, Sinfonietta Riga
David Greed, English Northern Philharmonia, David Lloyd-Jones
Dimity Hall, Sinfonia Australis, Antony Walker
Ida Haendel, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Roger Norrington
Hilary Hahn, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Gwen Hoebig, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey
Julia Hwang, Charles Matthews
Solomiya Ivakhiv, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Volodymyr Sirenko *
Janine Jansen, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth *
David Jurwitz, Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Haydon Clark
Nigel Kennedy, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle *
Isabelle van Keulen, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Andrew Manze
Midori Komachi, Simon Callaghan
Genevieve Laurenceau, Shani Diluka
Tasmin Little, BBC Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis
Tasmin Little, BBC SO, Sir Andrew Davis
Nicola Loud, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, David Arnold
Pauline Lowbury, Britten Sinfonia *
Anne Akiko Meyers, Philharmonia Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Takako Nishizaki, Capella Istropolitana, Stephen Gunzenhauser
Jennifer Pike, Swedish Chamber Choir, Simon Phipps (SACD)
Jennifer Pike, Chamber Orchestra of New York, Salvatore Di Vittorio
Jean Pougnet, London Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Adrian Boult *
Hagai Shaham, New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth *
Lucie �vehlová, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Miriam Nemcova
Matthew Trusler, Iain Burnside
Elena Urioste, London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron
Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Orchestra of the Swan, David Curtis
Christopher Warren-Green, London Chamber Orchestra *
Sonoko Miriam Welde, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tabita Berglund
Camilla Wicks, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Karsten Andersen *
Pinchas Zukerman, English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim
Pinchas Zukerman, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra *


* = download only

[Pulcinella]

Good grief!
Surely even CFM listeners already have a copy of this on their shelves.
Although maybe not, if they keep having to request it so frequently.


Quite a few versions here, if I bothered to count them, but as fillers/part of a compilation rather than bought specifically.

Iona Brown/ASMF/Marriner probably my 'go-to' if I really felt the urge.
I've never really liked the Hugh Bean, though I know it's highly respected in other quarters.

[smittims]

The popularity of this work over the last 50 years is astonishing. I remember a time when there was only one available recording.

The Bean/Boult, often regarded as a classic, was not, as one may think, a mature interpretation. When Sir Adrian asked Hugh Bean to record it he admitted he hadn't played it, and asked for time to learn it. Maybe this accounts for the freshness this version seems to have.

I've never thought of it as a difficult work to bring off, so there must be many satisfactory versions. Many CD collectors will have a dozen or more, bought as fill-ups to something else on the disc.

[Wolfram]

There are a couple of recordings on my shelves that are not on EA’s list, so I presume they are no longer available. They are Tasmin Little’s first recording with the BBCSO, also with Sir Andrew Davis and David Nolan with Vernon Handley. Tasmin Little was the winner the last time BaL covered The Lark. I agree with the comments above about Hugh Bean. The recordings that I play most often are that first Little recording and Sarah Chang with Haitink. Kennedy with Sir Simon is very slow, some might say indulgent.

[richardfinegold]

The Michael Davis/Brayden Thomson was my first exposure, a filler for the 5th Symphony. My ex wife, who hated Classical Music, was charmed by it, which must provide some insight into its popularity with Classicfm. On this side of the Pond one still doesn’t encounter it it or any RVW in concert halls

[smittims]

And yet there was a fine US recording , now on Sony: Raphael Druian with the Cleveland Sinfonietta under Louis Lane.

My favourite remains Pougnet/Boult, curiously originally on EMI's Parlophone label, where it was produced by their regular producer, George Martin, who later recorded the 'Ascending' of four very different Larks...

A fine modern version is by Tamsin Waley-Cohen and the Orchestra of the Swan, conducted by David Curtis, on Signum classics. I was impressed by this re-thought original interpretation; they took the trouble to avoid making it just another recording, and that applies to the other items on the disc, a mixed Elgar /VW concert .

[Darloboy]

Given its popularity, I was really surprised to discover that this work has only ever been covered by BaL once before, in May 1991, when Lyndon Jenkins chose Bean/Boult as top recommendation with Iona Brown/Marriner & Tasmin Little/Andrew Davis as other recommendations.

[Wolfram]

Given its popularity, I was really surprised to discover that this work has only ever been covered by BaL once before, in May 1991, when Lyndon Jenkins chose Bean/Boult as top recommendation with Iona Brown/Marriner & Tasmin Little/Andrew Davis as other recommendations.

Was it really that long ago? I could have sworn that Tasmin Little was the winner on that occasion. My memory is not what it was.

[Darloboy]

Was it really that long ago? I could have sworn that Tasmin Little was the winner on that occasion. My memory is not what it was.

I'm going by the end of series factsheet, which were not always 100% accurate. It's possible that your memory is more accurate than the input of the intern (probably YTS trainee in those days) who drafted the factsheet!

[BBMmk2]

I thought there’d be more of this work.

[Pulcinella]

If you follow this link, it shows recordings that have won awards (of all sorts); some Radio 3 ones are Disc of the week, but others are Building a Library recommendations (though not necessarily for The Lark):

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/55533--vaughan-williams-the-lark-ascending/browse?award_winner=true&size=10&view=large&sort=relevance&page=2

[rauschwerk]

There was a thread on the old BBC boards to which some kind person posted excerpts from various recordings. From this I concluded that I preferred Janine Jansen's version to any of those I already had (Bean, Chang, Little 1991, Warren-Green). My preference has not changed.

[CallMePaul]

Is the original version with piano, which I prefer to the orchestral version, not under consideration? I would recommend Jennifer Pike's version of this (I also have the Chang/ Haitink of the orchestral version).

[Lordgeous]

To be honest, apart from beauty of tone and recording quality any of the available versions would suffice for me! Not a piece I would choose to listen to very often, Cowpat at its best? (Much as I love other VW).

[Mal]

I've never really liked the Hugh Bean, though I know it's highly respected in other quarters.

Why don't you like the Hugh Bean? I just listened to it and found it spellbinding. Kennedy & Rattle, on the other hand, I found far too slow and over-indulgent (17 minutes!) Smittims is right about Boult/Bean's "freshness", I feel, the lark was really moving about and chirping, meanwhile Kennedy & Rattle lingered with their lark, grounded, in their modern A list hot tub (OK, not altogether unpleasant... but likely to send you to sleep...)