麻豆社

Listen again to this, the second of six concerts presented in collaboration with the Hall茅 Orchestra, exploring the symphonies of Vaughan Williams.

In this concert, recorded at the Bridgewater Hall on 19 March 2022, the spotlight falls on Vaughan Williams' Fourth; in his words, "not ... a definite picture of anything external - e.g. the state of Europe - but simply because it occurred to me like that."

Written between 1931 and 1934, what felt like unexpected dissonance to some listeners did, despite his assertion, reflect the discomfort many felt about the uncertainty of the political situation. Uncertainty frames the faith that is core to the Walt Whitman text Vaughan Williams sets in the music that opens the programme; the Halle choir joins the 麻豆社 Philharmonic and Sir Andrew Davis for Toward the Unknown Region, "Darest though now O soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?", words which seem to permeate Vaughan Williams's spirituality for the rest of his life.

Extra-musical influence from a different medium and century provide the inspiration for music which Vaughan Williams called a masque for dancing, "Job". William Blake's twenty-one engravings for the biblical book form the basis of nine scenes and the metaphysical interpretation and freedom Blake displays in these unique works help create an particularly powerful and intriguing dimension to this visionary music.