Search - Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus :: Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem, Symphony No. 4 & The Lark Ascending

Robert Spano, conductor of the prestigious Atlanta Symphony since 2001, leads the orchestra and guest soloists in three highly distinctive and distinguished works by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). Written in 1936, Dona nobis pacem uses, as its centerpiece, Walt Whitman's Civil War poem Dirge for Two Veterans, a work the composer also set to music prior to WWI. Together with additional text, a portion of the Latin Mass serves as a recurring leitmotif and the source of the work's title. The trajectory of the cantata's text and music reflects the hope for a brighter future. The Lark Ascending's (1919) brief orchestral introduction leads to a lengthy solo violin cadenza. The majestic, delicate music establishes the soloist's role as the embodiment of the lark's beautiful song and noble flight. In the final measures the orchestra is silent as the violinist plays another extended cadenza, toward its soaring, hushed conclusion.

Completed in 1934, the Fourth Symphony was initially deemed austere, harsh, and violent. Although somewhat inspired by the events of that time, the towering furies of which Vaughan Williams was so capable, his fire, pride and strength were all revealed, as were his imagination, lyricism and experimentation with purely musical ideas.