大象传媒

From Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Presented by Tom McKinney

In the third of this collaborative series of concerts in which the 大象传媒 Philharmonic and the Halle Orchestra explore the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams in his 150th anniversary year, conductor John Wilson guides the 大象传媒 Philharmonic through the frozen wastes in the direction of the South Pole and back to London in the early years of the 20th century.

Fashioned from music for the film "Scott of the Antarctic". released in 1948 and charting the doomed 1912 expedition, Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia antartica immerses us in some of his most descriptive and chilling music. We hear the unstoppable force of nature in the movement of the ice floes, the howling of the incessant wind and blizzards on the glacier. We experience hope and patriotism as well as fear and despair, but are also allowed to enjoy the antics of the South Pole's resident penguins!

Closer to home, although born in the Gloucestershire countryside, Vaughan Williams considered himself a Londoner, and his portrait of the city during this period is evocative and powerful, framed by its depiction of the Westminster Chimes ringing out over the Thames. The lost atmosphere of those years is caught in the sound of the streets; the music of an accordion and a lavender seller clearly portray a sense of time and place in this rich symphonic tapestry.

Vaughan Williams: 'Sinfonia antartica' (Symphony No.7)

Music Interval (CD)
Vaughan Williams: A vision of aeroplanes
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Timothy Brown (conductor), James McVinnie (organ)

Vaughan Williams: Lord, thou hast been our refuge
Choir of St John's, Cambridge, Andrew Nethsinga (conductor), Joseph Wicks (organ), David Blackadder (trumpet)

Vaughan Williams: 'A London Symphony' (Symphony No.2)

Sarah Fox (soprano)
Manchester Chamber Choir
大象传媒 Philharmonic
John Wilson (conductor)