Ralph Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams developed A London Symphony with encouragement from George Butterworth, to whose memory it was later dedicated. Westminster chimes and street sounds are woven into a four-movement orchestral design....

Vaughan Williams developed the Pastoral Symphony from impressions gathered during his wartime service in France. Its four movements are predominantly restrained, and a wordless voice frames the finale. The second...

Vaughan Williams uses poems by Walt Whitman in a four-movement symphony for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra. Voices participate throughout the work, not only in its conclusion. Sea imagery expands into...

Vaughan Williams's Fourth begins with an abrasive clash and tightly concentrated motivic writing. Four movements culminate in an extended fugal epilogue, with material from the opening returning at the end. Its force...

Vaughan Williams's Fifth uses comparatively restrained orchestral forces for a four-movement design. Some themes are connected with his long-running Pilgrim's Progress project, particularly in the central Romanza. A...

Vaughan Williams links the four movements of this symphony without conventional pauses. Forceful opening music and an agitated scherzo give way to an entire final movement marked to remain very quiet. The tenor...

Vaughan Williams transformed material from his score for Scott of the Antarctic into a five-movement concert work. Wordless soprano and women's chorus join a large orchestra that includes organ, tuned percussion and...

Vaughan Williams gives each movement of his Eighth Symphony a different instrumental emphasis. A varied opening movement is followed by a scherzo for winds, a Cavatina for strings and a finale that expands the...

Vaughan Williams's last symphony expands his familiar orchestral palette with three saxophones and a flugelhorn. Its four movements include reflective music as well as strongly accented episodes. The surviving...