Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending

All week, Elizabeth Alker celebrates the vivid storytelling and sweeping orchestral melodies of the symphonic tone poem. Today, we hear from a master of the form, Richard Strauss, celebrated British composer Dorothy Howell, and the Vaughan Williams classic inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the same name, The Lark Ascending.

Our featured artist this week is the Modigliani Quartet, and we’ll hear them playing Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence in a recording made for Radio France in Paris.

Also, we’ll hear exclusive recordings from the world’s largest festival of classical song, the Oxford International Song Festival, with music sung by BBC New Generation Artist Konstantin Krimmel.

Richard Strauss
Ein Heldenleben, Op 40
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Eva Ollikainen (conductor)

Oxofrd International Song Festival:
Robert Schumann
5 Lieder, Op 40
Konstantin Krimmel (baritone)
Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano)

Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
Geneva Lewis (violin)
Sam Armstrong (piano)

Alexander Scriabin
Symphony No 4, Op 54, 'The Poem of Ecstasy'
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Marie Jacquot (conductor)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Souvenir de Florence, Op 70
Modigliani Quartet
Hélène Clément (viola)
Antoine Lederlin (cello)

Dorothy Howell
Lamia
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martijn Dendievel (conductor)

Antonín Dvořák
The Wild Dove, Op 110
Young Southwest German Philharmonic
Friedrich Burckhard (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".