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Donald Macleod considers the profound influence Vaughan Williams's liberal-minded upbringing brought to bear on his thinking and his musical ambitions.

Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of the UK's most significant musical figures. This month, Donald Macleod takes a fresh look at this much loved composer as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth, Donald will be telling Vaughan Williams's life story and exploring his music in fascinating detail over the course of four weeks and twenty programmes. Interleaved with Donald's in-depth narrative accounts, some of our leading authorities on Vaughan Williams will be joining him to share new perspectives. They'll be unpacking the overlooked and less well-known aspects of a composer whose body of work and diverse interests have made such an enduring imprint on British cultural life.

The first week of this landmark series will focus on Vaughan Williams's formative years, and his earliest works. It could be said that Vaughan Williams was pre-destined to be a leading figure in the musical life of Great Britain. He was born in 1872 with, in his own words, "a small silver spoon in his mouth" and his mother was part of the Wedgwood and Darwin dynasties. Charles Darwin was Vaughan Williams' great uncle. Raised, after his father's early death, in the matriarchal family home Leith Hill Place in Surrey, young Ralph was encouraged in the pursuit of knowledge from an early age. The values he was exposed to growing up are reflected in his social awareness later on. He wrote music for every kind of setting, from the concert hall to the village hall. We’ll follow his development from his very first attempt at writing music, Robin's Nest, to the assurance of his London Symphony.

Today, Donald follows Vaughan Williams' first steps towards a life in music. Far from being a child prodigy, according to his mother's cousin Ralph had been "playing all his life" and yet wasn't able "to play the simplest thing decently!". Yet, with his family's blessing, Vaughan Williams' dedication to music would win the day.

The Lark Ascending (excerpt)
Janine Jansen, violin
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth, conductor

A vision of aeroplanes (excerpt)
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Victoria Adams, organ
Nicholas Morris, organ
Paul Spicer, conductor

The Robin’s Nest
Frank Ericson, piano

Quintet for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano Trio in D major
I: Allegro moderato
Nash Ensemble

Bucolic Suite
II. Andante
IV. Finale. Allegro
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor

Songs of Travel
3. The Roadside Fire
4. Youth and Love
Gerald Finley, baritone
Stephen Ralls, piano

In the Fen Country
Rheinland-Pfalz Philharmonic
Karl-Heinz Steffens, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith

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