The Lark Ascending

The Lark Ascending ( The Lark Ascending ) is a piece for violin and small orchestra, written in 1914 by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The composition is the rise of a lark around in the sky.

Vaughan Williams was inspired by the same 122 -line poem by George Meredith on the lark. He was interrupted by the First World War in the composition so that the play was performed only after a revision of 1920 on June 14, 1921 under Adrian Boult with orchestra. The premiere took place only with piano accompaniment. In both performances Marie Hall was the violinist.

Was the criticism of The Times for the first performance: " It was found in the highest form of liberty against the ways of today or yesterday. It gushed gave himself. " (It Showed supreme disregard for the ways of today or yesterday. Itself It dreamed along. )

Using patterns pentatonic scale frees the violin from a strong tonal center and shows the impressionistic side of Vaughan Williams' style. The cadenzas for solo violin are written without bar lines ( senza Misura ), which gives them an idea of ​​meditative liberation. The piece was partly associated with the English violinist Hugh Bean.

2013 Nigel Kennedy interpreted the piece as part of the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.