Ralph Vaughan Williams - Flos Campi
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- - Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 -- 26 August 1958)
- Orchestra: Bournemouth Sinfonietta
- Choir: Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir
- Conductor: Norman del Mar
- Soloist: Frederick Riddle (viola)
- Year of recording: 1977
Flos Campi, suite for viola, small chorus & small orchestra, written in 1925.
00:00 - 1. Sicut Lilium in spinas (Lento)
02:43 - 2. Jam enim hiems transiit (Andante con moto)
06:00 - 3. Quaesivi quem diligit anima mea (Lento - Allegro moderato)
09:19 - 4. Et lectulum Salomonis (Moderato alla marcia)
11:24 - 5. Revertere, revertere Sulamitis! (Andante quasi lento)
14:43 - 6. Pone me ut signaculum (Moderato tranquillo)
Vaughan Williams played the viola, and frequently professed it was his favorite instrument. Along with the Suite for viola and orchestra of 1934, his most significant work for the instrument is the unusual Flos Campi [Flower of the Field], which combines the viola with a spare orchestral backing of strings, winds, tabor, and celesta, along with a mixed choir that sings wordlessly. It was first performed on 10 October 1925, in London, with violist Lionel Tertis, voices from the Royal College of Music, and the Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood. The reaction was mixed, and even such close friends of the composer as Gustav Holst admitted themselves puzzled by this subtle and voluptuous work.
In a program note for a 1927 performance, Vaughan Williams admitted "The title Flos Campi was taken by some to connote an atmosphere of 'buttercups and daisies....'" This is, in fact, far from the atmosphere of this work. Each of its six movements is headed by a quotation from the Old Testament's Song of Solomon, and it is the passionate quality of that text which informs Flos Campi.
- The work opens with the juxtaposition of viola and oboe, both playing melodically but in different keys, creating palpable tension. This opening movement is languorous and mysterious, its associated text speaking of the sickness of love, of how it is a "lily among thorns."
- Nature springs to life in the second movement, with the "singing of birds" and the "voice of the turtle."
- But the beloved is not present, and the third movement is passionate and agitated, with the viola accompanied mostly by the women of the choir.
- Men "expert in war" are at Solomon's bed in the vigorous fourth-movement march, in which the violist has an opportunity for some virtuoso display. The music builds to a rather tense climax, at which point we hear the murmuring of voices, over which the viola soars longingly.
- The orchestra takes up this music in a more peaceful strain, and the choir sings in sweet polyphony.
- The opening viola-oboe duet returns, but its ambivalence is resolved as the melodic material of the fifth movement is taken up again in a quiet and magical coda.
Flos Campi is dedicated: "To Lionel Tertis". - Hudba
Every time I hear his works, its as if I have a waking out of body experience to other times and dimensions; to times and places of great beauty and love. I appreciate him and his music more than my poor words can tell; being a violist myself and an Anglican choirmaster - organist - composer. I would have loved to have met RVW and Herbert Howells. As a Kentucky boy, who has travelled all over America, I am sad I have never been to England and Wales; my ancestral homes.
"Set me as a seal upon thine hearts", a benediction for all who are troubled and in pain...we all pass through our trials and will receive comfort.....
I heard this piece for the first time last night and it took to me to emotional spaces I hadn’t been in a long time. I was in my car and Jim Schveda played it on KUSC- I honestly wasn’t prepared for it. I’ve been single for a very long time and my last love really took a toll on me. But this piece just made me feel so much love. The beginning was really me reliving my heartbreak- the eery beauty of it all and the ethereal experience of thinking you met the love of your life, but it only being a dream... Then the end of the piece really brought me hope- I imagined a sun rise and new beginnings- especially the vocal parts- so majestic and transcendental- I felt the warmth of love all over me, I put the seat back in my car and stared into the empty space of my passenger seat. I reached out my hand and imagined my love to be holding it, listening to the beautiful piece with me. It brought a huge smile to my face cause I knew in that moment love was all around and I wasn’t alone. Thank you RVW for your brilliance, kindness and music. This music is truly of the soul and is such a gift!!!
I just heard this tonight on the same radio station, and I looked up their website to see what the song was! I had to, this is one of the most beautiful pieces of music Ive ever heard. I have PTSD and had an anxiety attack earlier tonight, so I went out for a drive to get some cool night air on my face, and after listening to some metal music for a while, I switched to the classical station and this song absolutely caught my full attention. I felt so soothed and safe. So ethereal and relaxing but like its still strong enough to support me. How sweet that another commenter, you, also found this song on the same radio station as me 6 months earlier. This is my new favorite song. I hope things are going well for you stranger 🙂
This aromatic, gorgeous masterpiece lifts my soul effortlessly and comforts me in equal turns.
I've lived with this masterpiece for 50 years and I'm still stunned by RVW's ability to use dissonance, bitonality and quartal harmony to create a sensuous, intensely emotional and mystical landscape. Serialists, to me can only create a landscape of pain and confusion. RVW approaches music as a means to create beauty. Even his most arguably dissonant work, Symphony #4 in F Minor is a masterpiece of dynamism and muscular, propulsive energy while still remaining in a tonal orbit, albeit on the ragged edge for a good portion.
"Serialists, to me can only create a landscape of pain and confusion."
Have you tried listening to, for example, Berg's violin concerto, Dallapiccola's "Canti di Prigionia" (among other works), or Skalkottas' "The Maiden and Death"? Ingolf Dahl is another later example, and Josef Matthias Hauer developed his own twelve-tone system earlier than (and independent of) Schoenberg, with very interesting results. It's true that people often show works by Schoenberg in his free atonal period or by Webern - I'm not very fond of that music either - but there's far more out there.
Also, serialism doesn't just refer to pitch - for example, Messiaen serialized rhythms very effectively.
@@towardthesea_ check out the 12th movement of the livre du saint sacrement by messiaen! the opening serialist part is mysterious and very effective
Vaughan Williams is the reason i want to study conducting and composing in the future, i just found this song by him and I have yet to be unimpressed by his pieces.
It's not a song in the strictest sense, and the lazy modern sense is anathema.
Gwailo54 cool
Instablaster...
The passage between 2:45 and 3:30 (apologies I don't read music) will sing eternally to my soul!
I love the aerial quality if RVW's compositions
Deep impression was reaching my heart . 🍎
one of the under rated works of RW. I love the romantic soothing ending, brilliant.
Spectacular, and thanks to olla-vogala as always for making so many works more accessible to those of us who connect better with the score present! This performance is truly excellent, but my opinion is that an even better one is to be found: the Corydon Singers' recording under Matthew Best, for Hyperion Records back in 1990. The balance is better, the acoustic softer and warmer, the singers were among the finest to be found anywhere - and with Nobuko Imai on viola, you can't go wrong.
My favorite composer. Wow.
Fun fact: the beginning of the third movement can be heard in the movie "The Thief and the Cobbler" in Zigzag's tower (shortly before the first-view camera pan inside the tower's staircase).
How is it ordinary mortals like me are able to hear this work for the first time in October 2018, and get it a lot quicker than Gustav Holst did 90 years ago?
Wonderful piece. Good speed in the march section. I was lucky enough to conduct the piece in a concert in Warwick
I've never heard RVW write something so haunting. How, as a viola player, have I *never* heard of this?
I find this very interesting.
This is such a christianly sexy masterpiece
Ironically, Vaughan-Williams was atheist
@@joshscores3360 I don't think we'll ever know obviously, but I would proffer maybe more agnostic. He was the son of a vicar and brought up in faith. It's hard to shun the whole thing, and certainly his church music would suggest some semblance of affinity.
11:26 Holy shit...
Interesting that Vaughn Williams, like Mozart, came to prefer the Viola.
+Harry Andruschak I too, prefer the sound of the viola over the violin. It is after all, I think the best representation of the human voice.
+Harry Andruschak Sorry, But who are you ?
How do you know me ?
It is also a terrible instrument in many ways. Guess that smaller neck in proportion to what it needs for the range(kind of like a 9 string guitar) just gave it an interesting sound instead of a bad one.
Please watch this at the lowest quality only (144p) since it's just for the music, which is much more ecologically responsible than at a higher rate. Watching this at 240p (which is unnecessary for listening purposes), will increase the bandwith by double to almost tenfold! At 1080 the bandwith is augmented by a factor of 100!
The use of digital technology accounts for 4% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, as much as the emissions from the world's truck fleet. Of that, a BIG part comes from livestreaming videos, mainly 3 sources : CZcams, Netflix and porn.
Let's enjoy this beautiful music by being aware and responsible, doing our little part in decreasing our carbon footprint and protecting this wonderful planet for the generations to come.
I don’t know about you, but I’m watching this so that I can study the score while I’m listening, which isn’t possible at a low quality. I understand the sentiment though.
The adverts make listening to this unbearable. It's a mockery.
Yup. Just been ad-shocked four times in 21 minutes😣
Tris is the spirit of the anticolonialist from a man that preserve the continuity of the Voice of woods