Another profound RVW piece I'd not heard before. It is a tragedy that so little of his work is performed today, at least in America. Discovering him, nearly 30 years ago was a revelation for me, and it has never stopped.
oldwest517 Same here. For me, Romance for Strings & Orchestra (The Lark Ascending) and Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus were the first two works that opened the door to the incredible world of RVW.
癌Weeaboo.Nightcore4Life Yes. I often wondered if his rich gift of orchestration was developed under Ravel’s guidance. Also, I can hear the influence of Holst and Debussy as well.
It seems every ten years or so people say "we must have a Vaughan Williams revival, after all he's one of our greatest composers". Then they discover there is more to him than the Tallis Fantasia, Greensleeves and The Lark Ascending and don't know what to make of him. An incredibly gifted man whose music spans so many moods and genres he really can't be classified.
As an American orchestral musician (and conductor at the University level and at an Academy) I am unusual in that I have performed at least 4 of RVWs symphonies, many of his choral works, and the string orchestra music. I still more than occasionally do Five Mystical Songs with organ, choir, and timpani at our Episcopal Cathedral, and several other of his sacred works and choral anthems...always look forward to those services..
I think this is going to become a favourite for me ,it's the first-time I've heard it he's always been one of my favourite composer's. I cant believe I've not known it. Better late than never thank you Collin.
So torn over this piece. Hadn't heard it until recently (thanks to Colin for posting so much of the Vaughn-Williams catalogue) and I find I can't listen to the ending without weeping. It's that achingly beautiful...
There is so much that is good, even great, in this ravishingly beautiful concerto, that I despair that it is just not performed. Orchestral managers are blind to anything other than the usual bums-on-seat classics. So thanks to channels like this one for making it available!
RVW has been my favorite composer for the majority of my life. His music is breathtakingly beautiful. The second movement of the C Major Piano Concerto is in a class by itself. I grew up rather close to my Uncle who was also a composer. In addition to two symphonies, scores for well over 300 motion pictures and the opera "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" you'd think would provide some insights into his profession,, but he could never get over the fact that composers like RVW, who defined their own dimension, hovered over him in his creative pantheon. At my mother's funeral, I noted that the music I was speaking over was her favorite work. It was RVW's "The Lark Ascending". After the service my uncle approached me. He asked since when was that her favorite (I guess he was expecting his own music, like "People" or perhaps the score to "War of the Wildcats" (Originally entitled "In Old Oklahoma" _ the lawyers must have had a ball litigating that title.)) I replied to my world famous uncle that my mother had fallen under Vaughan Williams' spell after I introduced her to his music. Well the old man looked me in the eye, called me the biggest SOB on planet Earth and never spoke to me again. YES!
I just discovered RVW recently and have been awed by the beauty of his music...I appreciate these videos as well...so we’ll done how the images move with the music
Soo fascinating that his time with Ravel, set him "free"!!!!! His music is so fascinating and so emotional! Once you can digest this Master, now move into the realm of Bax, Walton....Wow!!!
It will be included, and rightly so, in my upcoming March, 2020 all Vaughn Williams concert in New York City. Worth performing and hearing along with other great V.W. works.
RVW...England's greatest composer. Who wouldn't have fallen for Harriet Cohen! There is some of Job in this work..and the seeds of the 4th symphony. This concerto is very underrated...like the Concerto Accademico
"Who wouldn't have fallen for Harriet Cohen?" Apart from her 30+ year affair with the married Arnold Bax (who was also having a second, parallel affair with another woman called Mary Gleave) she seems to have been quite the gal about town with a string of "admirers" from Ramsay MacDonald and DH Lawrence to Jean Sibelius.
Quelle musique belle et intelligente , elle irradie dans l'espace et développe en l'auditeur l'intérêt porté par Ralph Vaughan Williams au microcosme et au macrocosme , et l'on passe à la luxuriance des harmoniques inouïs qui vous introduisent dans un espace infini de liberté et de réserves de beautés profondes et brillantes de l'intérieur qui vous nourrissent l'âme . Merci la vie lorsque j'écoute une telle musique qui me laisse apprécier l'instant qui vient comme un renouveau .Pstt , on y trouve des influences surprenantes de Holst , Ravel , Bartok et de Roussel , sans parler de Rachmaninov , car la musique de R.V.Williams est dans ce concerto comme une boite à outils qui parfois disais je cite ouvertement ou de façon moins insistante ces compagnons de l'écriture musicale , mais demeure en lui cette capacité difficile à obtenir de garder sa propre identité , car ce fut un compositeur modeste et génial
What beautiful and intelligent music, it radiates into space and develops in the listener the interest shown by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we pass to the luxuriance of the incredible harmonics which introduce you into an infinite space of freedom and reserves of deep and brilliant beauties of the interior which nourish your soul. Thank you life when I listen to such music that lets me appreciate the coming moment as a renewal. Pstt, there are surprising influences from Holst, Ravel, Bartok and Roussel, not to mention Rachmaninov, because the music of RVWilliams is in this concerto like a toolbox which sometimes said I openly or in a less insistent quote these companions of the musical writing, but remains in him this difficult capacity to obtain to keep its own identity, because it was a composer modest and awesome
Marvellous concerto, unlike any other, much admired by Bela Bartok who was hard to impress. The fugue in the last movement is a real tour de force. The video perfectly captures the sometimes tumultuous, passionate and angry mood of the music.
RVW is my favourite composer since late 90s when I heard the U of C orchestra play him. His piano concerto is just beyond music, made me look also into Bartok, I can listen to it endlessly.
Many many thanks Colin for posting this. The Piano Concerto is a piece that I came to late. It is I feel criminally neglected and I very much hope that the efforts of Ashley Wass and others in performing this beautiful music will right this wrong. Thank you again Colin for your powerful advocacy of this inspirational composer and his works ...
Impassioned impressionism propels this dramatic, even symphonic, intensely personal, Piano Concerto of Vaughan Williams. I hadn't heard it in many years; when I last did it was an enigma to me; I really didn't understand it. Now I can appreciate it's depth, not to mention it's unusual formal design. This composer, then and now, is one of my very favorites, and I'm glad to now add this unique work to nearly all of his others that I enjoy so immensely.
Merci Colin pour le sublime diaporama , avec de très très belles photos tout comme j'apprécie avec ces gammes de gris des nuages et fondus enchaînés , entre Vaughan Williams et votre travail , "je fis un rêve" encore merci !
As RVW studied with Ravel when he was near 30 years old...I can hear certain "Ravelian" phrases in some RVW's works....one especially in the 2nd Symphony.....
Colin, your presentation has fully echoed my own imaginings of the Romanza (second) movement, which tells a story all of it's own; unrequited love. Reflections upon a period fondly remembered: maybe a dalliance or just a close proximity brief encounter over a day or even just from the perspective of secret admiration from a not too distant position. The intensity of real emotion, the scent of the woman, her alluring beauty. The reflection becoming so immersive that briefly, one is there in the present. So powerful are those imaginings, - but then the reality: that it's all in the past; lost forever with the passing of each and every day further diminishing a once held dream of desire. By the time I'd heard this piece fully realising it's content it moved me to tears. Your dovetailing a backdrop of tranquil settings with real meaning only serve to embody the music in a way only a select few films have managed to achieve in my view. You must have true understanding and appreciation with this fine but neglected work. Well done with this mini masterpiece!
Fantastic listening! I have this work coupled with the Delius piano concerto with the same orchestra under Vernon Handley and Piers Lane as the soloist
Interesting ! It had never occurred to me, but now that you mention it I definitely hear Bartok's 3rd concerto and some of the percussiveness of his first 2 concerti.
Dont know that RVW is underrated anymore now that we are largely over the "Honk, Squeak, Fart" era in 20th C music (as my wife dubbed the 1960s through the 1970s)...and we played a lot of H,S, F music in our careers....most all very forgettable...
Without Vaughan Williams , the English music would have been very lonely and insipid , And the enjoyment and pleasures of the English music would have been vless . From Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵
I know this concerto in the version for two pianos....some of my former mentors..Vronsky and Babin made a very fine recording with Adrian Boult.....very late in the 20th C....1969 or so????
I have no idea how but parts of this sound a lot like Ferroud's "Trois pieces" for solo flute (especially 4:19~4:21; it sounds like the third movement)~
I didn't know this work -- happy for the introduction. It does seem like it deserves more exposure than it gets. Thanks too for the spectacular collection of images -- it's almost like a handbook for rendering natural light in a wide assortment of environments and times of day. Painters may be very happy to study them in more detail as a collection, even though it may mean stopping the music from time to time. :)
It could only have been written by RVW couldn't it. I think it's adverse popularity when first performed in the 1930's was simply down to RVW doing something that British audiences weren't ready for. The writing for the soloist is very unusual. The piano is almost part of the orchestra rather than on it's own (cadenzas apart of course). A sublime composition and unfortunately the stigma surrounding it's lack of success has led to unjust neglect. This needs serious correction!
What an amazing piece of music! I cannot believe I haven't come across it before - neglected is an understatement... Does anyone have any idea where I can find the score? I'd love to learn it but simply cannot find it.
Glad you like it Keelan. If you 'Google' the full title of the work you'll see that it's published by Oxford University Press. The full title is: Vaughan Williams Concerto for Pianoforte and Orchestra+score
I can see why Bartok liked it, though I only have the posting below to suggest that. It seems that RVW may have been aware of Bartok's music. I have studied Bartok's life and music extensively, and don't remember the name Vaughan Williams ever coming up, except as another example of a composer who collected folk music in the countryside. But this concerto actually sounds almost like it could have been composed by Bartok (or else his by RVW)!
Bartok Piano Concerti: #1 - 1926, #2 - 1930-31, #3 - 1945. I think it as just "in the air" in those pre-Nazi late 20s, Giovanni. Bartok's 3rd (my personal favorite) was his last work, and very different. He was in the U.S. then, living in Asheville, North Carolina, and dying of leukemia. I still have no confirmation that he studied Vaughan Williams work, but it may be true.
@@Phantomrasberryblowe Except for the 1st Bartok Concerto...which premiered in 1920 I believe....it is Bartok's answer to "Sacre du Printemps"....very much in that vein....
@@michaelhall9467 Have played the 1st and 3rd Bartok Concertos (in the orchestra)...the last time I did the 3rd was with Gyorgy Sebok a protege of Bartok's....who either premiered the 3rd...or did one of the very early performances of it...I cannot remember precisely which.
I wish I knew. TH-cam is putting itself beyond the pale with this. I don't particularly object to ads before the music begins, but DURING the music?? I suppose the answer would be that YT is free; if you wan't music without ads, go out and support musicians and recording companies by buying their discs.
There is the one by Vronsky and Babin with Boult conducting...paired with the 8th Symphony on an old vinyl recording I have...from the late 1960s perhaps...that is how I know this piece...
I'm confused, wasn't this work originally composed for two pianos ? I have a version for two pianos and orchestra, conducted by Boult in an edition by EMI of all RVW's symphonies, and some other orchestral works.
I remember notes from Vronsky and Babbin ? recording with Boult that the original one piano version was nearly unpayable. VW took the suggestion, from who I don't know, and reworked it for two pianos. I think it can work well in either form. Someone mentioned that parts sound like Ravel. I listened to an early recording of the Ravel String Quartet that Ravel supervised. The 3rd movt struck me as much like VW. Wonderful music.
Is there somewhere a complete, comprehensive (and, if possible, chronological) list of RVW's works? I don't remember ever seeing a list that included either the piano concerto or the violin concerto. I know of an oboe concerto, and if there is a viola concerto I'd love to know about it. But actually I'd just like to know all that he composed.
Michael - RVW, who played the viola himself, wrote two major works for the instrument: 'Flos Campi' and the Viola Suite. Flos Campi is a remarkable piece - just about the only work by VW which could be described as 'erotic'. It's inspired by the sensuous poetry of the Song of Soloman and was written, it's rumoured, when the composer was in love with a beautiful viola student at the RCM. I used parts of the viola suite in my biography video. You'll find a complete list of works at the website of the RVW Society.
@@271250cl I always wanted to do Flos Campi...either conduct it, or play that remarkable tenor drum part...one of the choral works of RVW that I never got a chance to perform.....and now probably never will!
I may be wrong, and often am, but do my ears detect hints of Bartok in this. Judging be the dates, it could be the other way around, or cross fertilisation. Two avid collectors of folk songs, you know.......
It's said that Bartok heard RVW's concerto and admired it. I'm pretty sure RVW would have been aware of BB's music, though I don't think he took a huge interest in it. As you say, the link is probably the modality of folk-music, and a very percussive approach to the piano in the outer movements.
Wonderful photos ... The music is not something I'd ever like listening to, similar to most English music after Handel. A matter of taste perhaps, but perhaps it's not without further reasons why English music is not highly regarded outside the island. I feel why Bartók liked it, but I don't like Bartók either, except for his piano concertos, which are way better than this one, so there it is.
Peter Simon "English music is not highly regarded outside the island"?! You mean it isn't popular with the ignorant, narrow-minded concert-going public. Musicians themselves, including conductors in all European countries and North America, have the HIGHEST regard for the works of composers such as Elgar, Holst, Britten, Walton, Tippett, and, yes, Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others. In the 20th century, only Russia can boast as great a contribution to the classical repertoire as England (given that Mahler, Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss all began their composing careers in the 19th century). Mind you, I don't know why I'm bothering to reply to someone who does not appreciate Bartok's music.
DieFlabbergast You don't have to reply, but I've never said I don't appreciate Bartok's music, I said I don't like most of it. A great difference. Yet I'm not American, nor British, I'm Hungarian. And I venture the remark that Hungarian composers are more often played for that ignorant public than Tippett, or Walton outside GB. And what can those high-minded musicians do with their regard? Be careful with that "all". I don't know much about German, or French, or Italian concert repertoires but I can say that those English composers are very rarely heard in Hungary or the Netherlands, except for a handful of pieces by Britten and one piece of Elgar and R.V.Williams respectively, and Walton's guitar pieces are performed. No disrespect, but that's not a very long list. And please, no disrespect for the public either, without them musicians die of hunger. Besides, we can blame all this on academia exactly, who don't show up wonderful works by other composers from other countries as regarded minor. I'd be happy to enjoy a concert by Borkiewicz, Ch. Wakefield Cadman, A. Gretchaninov, Reynaldo Hahn, Hannikainen, Artur Lemba, J. Marx, Rozycky, or A. Wiklund, although they were born in the 19th c., but sorry, our tastes are different, I don't like music that is too 'modern'. But I have hardly any chance, they aren't put on programs. I think that it is mostly the top institutions that engrave names on people's minds, you can blame them, not ignorance, and people can only go to concerts given to them.
Peter Simon You say that only one piece each by Elgar and R. Vaughan Williams is regularly performed in Europe? If you are right, I think we can blame the European musical academic establishment, which has consistently tried to push the works of the Second Viennese School and their successors (i.e. 12-tone works) down the throats of the concert-going public. Elgar's music belongs to the 19th century, and most of VW's works are hardly "modern" either. There is something seriously wrong if such beautiful music is not played in European concert halls. Fortunately, we live in the age of recorded music, and there is no shortage of recordings of British composers' works.
DieFlabbergast You are right! Although I haven't exactly said European academia as I can't speak for most countries either. But now the choice belongs mostly to the listener and I've included my opinion as only one of them.
Personal taste + also received wisdom, powerful influences on thought and appreciation, even narrow-minded biases, play a part in what is popular and well known. There will always be neglected greatness in international culture. Anglophone pop-rock music dominates, as does Hollywood in cinema, whereas so many marvellous films from round the world (including Hungary of course) are not known by most film goers. Variety is the spice of life and let there be a fair chance for all. Oh, and there are at least some people commenting here from outside UK who admire this and RVW- who knows how many more there might be if his music was played more widely?
![เป็นไปได้ไหม - WanMai [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_6lZ6b3_7Vo/mqdefault.jpg)
Another profound RVW piece I'd not heard before. It is a tragedy that so little of his work is performed today, at least in America. Discovering him, nearly 30 years ago was a revelation for me, and it has never stopped.
He is a student of Ravel.
oldwest517 Same here. For me, Romance for Strings & Orchestra (The Lark Ascending) and Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus were the first two works that opened the door to the incredible world of RVW.
癌Weeaboo.Nightcore4Life Yes. I often wondered if his rich gift of orchestration was developed under Ravel’s guidance. Also, I can hear the influence of Holst and Debussy as well.
It seems every ten years or so people say "we must have a Vaughan Williams revival, after all he's one of our greatest composers". Then they discover there is more to him than the Tallis Fantasia, Greensleeves and The Lark Ascending and don't know what to make of him. An incredibly gifted man whose music spans so many moods and genres he really can't be classified.
As an American orchestral musician (and conductor at the University level and at an Academy) I am unusual in that I have performed at least 4 of RVWs symphonies, many of his choral works, and the string orchestra music. I still more than occasionally do Five Mystical Songs with organ, choir, and timpani at our Episcopal Cathedral, and several other of his sacred works and choral anthems...always look forward to those services..
I think this is going to become a favourite for me ,it's the first-time I've heard it he's always been one of my favourite composer's. I cant believe I've not known it. Better late than never thank you Collin.
Never heard this before. Just discovered at 6.30 in the morning! What a day!
So torn over this piece. Hadn't heard it until recently (thanks to Colin for posting so much of the Vaughn-Williams catalogue) and I find I can't listen to the ending without weeping. It's that achingly beautiful...
There is so much that is good, even great, in this ravishingly beautiful concerto, that I despair that it is just not performed. Orchestral managers are blind to anything other than the usual bums-on-seat classics. So thanks to channels like this one for making it available!
RVW has been my favorite composer for the majority of my life. His music is breathtakingly beautiful. The second movement of the C Major Piano Concerto is in a class by itself. I grew up rather close to my Uncle who was also a composer. In addition to two symphonies, scores for well over 300 motion pictures and the opera "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" you'd think would provide some insights into his profession,, but he could never get over the fact that composers like RVW, who defined their own dimension, hovered over him in his creative pantheon.
At my mother's funeral, I noted that the music I was speaking over was her favorite work. It was RVW's "The Lark Ascending". After the service my uncle approached me. He asked since when was that her favorite (I guess he was expecting his own music, like "People" or perhaps the score to "War of the Wildcats" (Originally entitled "In Old Oklahoma" _ the lawyers must have had a ball litigating that title.)) I replied to my world famous uncle that my mother had fallen under Vaughan Williams' spell after I introduced her to his music. Well the old man looked me in the eye, called me the biggest SOB on planet Earth and never spoke to me again. YES!
Tough family, Donald. Phew!! I'm just now hearing this amazing piece.
The loss of your uncle was the loss of nothing.
I just discovered RVW recently and have been awed by the beauty of his music...I appreciate these videos as well...so we’ll done how the images move with the music
Vaughan Williams was the only one of my pupils, who did not write "my" music. - Ravel
Soo fascinating that his time with Ravel, set him "free"!!!!! His music is so fascinating and so emotional!
Once you can digest this Master, now move into the realm of Bax, Walton....Wow!!!
@@rickyhailpern1866 --- Exactly! BRAVO from Acapulco!
An absolute gem! So many glimpses of other works here. Always been one of my faves. The best of RVW....and that's good!!!
It will be included, and rightly so, in my upcoming March, 2020 all Vaughn Williams concert in New York City. Worth performing and hearing along with other great V.W. works.
Good luck with the concert! Don't forger to spell the composer's name correctly on programmes and publicity materials! 'Vaughan'.
@@271250cl "Don't forger"???
Physician, heal thyself!!
🤣🤣
@@gedofgont1006 Lol
RVW...England's greatest composer. Who wouldn't have fallen for Harriet Cohen! There is some of Job in this work..and the seeds of the 4th symphony. This concerto is very underrated...like the Concerto Accademico
It sounds to my ears the beginning also contains seeds of the 5th symphony, particularly the 2nd movement.
"Who wouldn't have fallen for Harriet Cohen?" Apart from her 30+ year affair with the married Arnold Bax (who was also having a second, parallel affair with another woman called Mary Gleave) she seems to have been quite the gal about town with a string of "admirers" from Ramsay MacDonald and DH Lawrence to Jean Sibelius.
Tim Holmes."England's greatest composer" No, that has to be Edward Elgar.
Quelle musique belle et intelligente , elle irradie dans l'espace et développe en l'auditeur l'intérêt porté par Ralph Vaughan Williams au microcosme et au macrocosme , et l'on passe à la luxuriance des harmoniques inouïs qui vous introduisent dans un espace infini de liberté et de réserves de beautés profondes et brillantes de l'intérieur qui vous nourrissent l'âme . Merci la vie lorsque j'écoute une telle musique qui me laisse apprécier l'instant qui vient comme un renouveau .Pstt , on y trouve des influences surprenantes de Holst , Ravel , Bartok et de Roussel , sans parler de Rachmaninov , car la musique de R.V.Williams est dans ce concerto comme une boite à outils qui parfois disais je cite ouvertement ou de façon moins insistante ces compagnons de l'écriture musicale , mais demeure en lui cette capacité difficile à obtenir de garder sa propre identité , car ce fut un compositeur modeste et génial
What beautiful and intelligent music, it radiates into space and develops in the listener the interest shown by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we pass to the luxuriance of the incredible harmonics which introduce you into an infinite space of freedom and reserves of deep and brilliant beauties of the interior which nourish your soul. Thank you life when I listen to such music that lets me appreciate the coming moment as a renewal. Pstt, there are surprising influences from Holst, Ravel, Bartok and Roussel, not to mention Rachmaninov, because the music of RVWilliams is in this concerto like a toolbox which sometimes said I openly or in a less insistent quote these companions of the musical writing, but remains in him this difficult capacity to obtain to keep its own identity, because it was a composer modest and awesome
The music speaks for itself.It is the world of ones self meditation.All that is right in the world is in this piece.
Marvellous concerto, unlike any other, much admired by Bela Bartok who was hard to impress. The fugue in the last movement is a real tour de force. The video perfectly captures the sometimes tumultuous, passionate and angry mood of the music.
Thanks Peter!
RVW is my favourite composer since late 90s when I heard the U of C orchestra play him. His piano concerto is just beyond music, made me look also into Bartok, I can listen to it endlessly.
Many many thanks Colin for posting this. The Piano Concerto is a piece that I came to late. It is I feel criminally neglected and I very much hope that the efforts of Ashley Wass and others in performing this beautiful music will right this wrong. Thank you again Colin for your powerful advocacy of this inspirational composer and his works ...
Thanks for your comment Laurence. Needless to say I agree with what you say about the Concerto and I'm encouraged by what you say about my video!
Impassioned impressionism propels this dramatic, even symphonic, intensely personal, Piano Concerto of Vaughan Williams. I hadn't heard it in many years; when I last did it was an enigma to me; I really didn't understand it. Now I can appreciate it's depth, not to mention it's unusual formal design. This composer, then and now, is one of my very favorites, and I'm glad to now add this unique work to nearly all of his others that I enjoy so immensely.
Thanks much for this - just gorgeous.
incredible music, brilliantly played thanks Colin
not heard it before another interesting RVW work. bravo!
Un magnífico concierto... y excelentes fotografias.Formidable! R.Vaughan Williams cada vez me gusta más......
Merci Colin pour le sublime diaporama , avec de très très belles photos tout comme j'apprécie avec ces gammes de gris des nuages et fondus enchaînés , entre Vaughan Williams et votre travail , "je fis un rêve" encore merci !
Merci beaucoup pour votre aimable réponse. Je suis très heureux que vous l'avez aimé, remi
Beautiful! 2 movement very touching. And you do a fine job with the images.
A complex and beautiful composition. RVW had quite a repertoire, which I am only just discovering. Thank you for posting this amazing performance.
The second movement gives me a taste of Ravel, which I love so much! Thanks for posting this.
As RVW studied with Ravel when he was near 30 years old...I can hear certain "Ravelian" phrases in some RVW's works....one especially in the 2nd Symphony.....
Warm thanks and greetings from Sweden!
Colin, your presentation has fully echoed my own imaginings of the Romanza (second) movement, which tells a story all of it's own; unrequited love. Reflections upon a period fondly remembered: maybe a dalliance or just a close proximity brief encounter over a day or even just from the perspective of secret admiration from a not too distant position. The intensity of real emotion, the scent of the woman, her alluring beauty. The reflection becoming so immersive that briefly, one is there in the present. So powerful are those imaginings, - but then the reality: that it's all in the past; lost forever with the passing of each and every day further diminishing a once held dream of desire. By the time I'd heard this piece fully realising it's content it moved me to tears. Your dovetailing a backdrop of tranquil settings with real meaning only serve to embody the music in a way only a select few films have managed to achieve in my view. You must have true understanding and appreciation with this fine but neglected work. Well done with this mini masterpiece!
Many thanks for sharing your response! This Romanza must, indeed, be one of RVW's most romantic creations, and one of his most beautiful.
now I have to make way for a new concerto in my personal top 10 favorite piano concertos - this one is magnificent
Don't know which I enjoyed more, the concerto or the visuals. Ok it was the concerto, but the visuals were stunning. Thanks for both.
+Bob Horuff Thanks, Bob. The music's the important thing but I'm glad you liked the pictures too.
Beautiful ,beautiful music.
A masterpiece. That is all.
I have enjoyed your video’s and art. Please keep it up.
Wonderful juxtaposition of sound and image.
Holy cow I'm very glad to have discovered this tonight. Haven't heard this particular work before, actually came from The Wasps Overture. Awesome!
stunning oh to be in England
Fantastic listening! I have this work coupled with the Delius piano concerto with the same orchestra under Vernon Handley and Piers Lane as the soloist
Que belleza y profundidad, que delicia..¡¡ Simplemente maravilloso..¡¡
Excellent, thanks dear "Colin"...!
Senor Colin :Vd. es un auténtico artista eligiendo estas fotos y seguro un gran aficionado y amante de R.V.W .Le felicito!
Salvador: Muchas gracias por tus amables palabras.
Beautiful rendition.
amazing
I love this. Btw, I'm making sure not to make any purchases from companies whose ads interrupt this piece.
Don't blame them, blame TH-cam! :)
Apparently Bartok admired and studied this concerto
Interesting ! It had never occurred to me, but now that you mention it I definitely hear Bartok's 3rd concerto and some of the percussiveness of his first 2 concerti.
wow! had never heard this before. More edgy than what I'm used to (and that's great!) from RVW
great music by this underrrated master
Dont know that RVW is underrated anymore now that we are largely over the "Honk, Squeak, Fart" era in 20th C music (as my wife dubbed the 1960s through the 1970s)...and we played a lot of H,S, F music in our careers....most all very forgettable...
I've never heard this one-piano version. It's lighter on its feet than the later one, and I prefer it.
Without Vaughan Williams ,
the English music would have been very lonely and insipid ,
And the enjoyment and pleasures of the English music would have been vless .
From
Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵
This is amazing! :O
I know this concerto in the version for two pianos....some of my former mentors..Vronsky and Babin made a very fine recording with Adrian Boult.....very late in the 20th C....1969 or so????
thank you!!! :)
I have no idea how but parts of this sound a lot like Ferroud's "Trois pieces" for solo flute (especially 4:19~4:21; it sounds like the third movement)~
I think this wonderful work is more affective in the two piano version.
It stands up well in both versions....
Classy maritime vibe. Very nice. Should be heard more often and yes - somewhat Bax-ish. Splendid!
Yes i have always loved RVW.s music +now on U Tube people can hear it..but i hope it does not become.TOO.popular .+commercialised..
sounds quite modern.
With Dvorak's this is the most undervalued piano concerto in the repertoire. Not a pianist's concerto, but excellent melodic material and writing.
I didn't know this work -- happy for the introduction. It does seem like it deserves more exposure than it gets.
Thanks too for the spectacular collection of images -- it's almost like a handbook for rendering natural light in a wide assortment of environments and times of day. Painters may be very happy to study them in more detail as a collection, even though it may mean stopping the music from time to time. :)
It could only have been written by RVW couldn't it. I think it's adverse popularity when first performed in the 1930's was simply down to RVW doing something that British audiences weren't ready for. The writing for the soloist is very unusual. The piano is almost part of the orchestra rather than on it's own (cadenzas apart of course). A sublime composition and unfortunately the stigma surrounding it's lack of success has led to unjust neglect. This needs serious correction!
David A. 🎶💙🎶
What an amazing piece of music! I cannot believe I haven't come across it before - neglected is an understatement...
Does anyone have any idea where I can find the score? I'd love to learn it but simply cannot find it.
Glad you like it Keelan. If you 'Google' the full title of the work you'll see that it's published by Oxford University Press. The full title is: Vaughan Williams Concerto for Pianoforte and Orchestra+score
The OUP reduced edition score is landscape-formed and single piano part with 2 pisnos version's part in same timeline. Good luck!
If you're still interested in the score, e-mail me! (first name dot last name at Gmail.) I know this is years later, but I thought I'd offer.
I can see why Bartok liked it, though I only have the posting below to suggest that. It seems that RVW may have been aware of Bartok's music. I have studied Bartok's life and music extensively, and don't remember the name Vaughan Williams ever coming up, except as another example of a composer who collected folk music in the countryside. But this concerto actually sounds almost like it could have been composed by Bartok (or else his by RVW)!
This appeared before Bartok's piano concertos who apparently admired and studied it
Really?! I'm surprised (and secretly pleased)
Bartok Piano Concerti: #1 - 1926, #2 - 1930-31, #3 - 1945. I think it as just "in the air" in those pre-Nazi late 20s, Giovanni. Bartok's 3rd (my personal favorite) was his last work, and very different. He was in the U.S. then, living in Asheville, North Carolina, and dying of leukemia. I still have no confirmation that he studied Vaughan Williams work, but it may be true.
@@Phantomrasberryblowe Except for the 1st Bartok Concerto...which premiered in 1920 I believe....it is Bartok's answer to "Sacre du Printemps"....very much in that vein....
@@michaelhall9467 Have played the 1st and 3rd Bartok Concertos (in the orchestra)...the last time I did the 3rd was with Gyorgy Sebok a protege of Bartok's....who either premiered the 3rd...or did one of the very early performances of it...I cannot remember precisely which.
This is a really good piece, could replace an overplayed Prokofiev or Ravel piece on a concert stage.
Prokofiev, yes...Ravel, maybe not so much.....
Hi Colin.
cool
WHY are adverts appearing during the performance
I wish I knew. TH-cam is putting itself beyond the pale with this. I don't particularly object to ads before the music begins, but DURING the music?? I suppose the answer would be that YT is free; if you wan't music without ads, go out and support musicians and recording companies by buying their discs.
Suggest you install an ad blocker. I use uBlock Origin myself, never see ads when I'm playing TH-cam videos, presume the ad blocker is the reason.
BE CAREFUL : your heart breaks from 12:09
... or your soul flies away
As you prefer
Thank you but this is the single piano version? Is there a good recording of the 2 piano version (preferred)
There is the one by Vronsky and Babin with Boult conducting...paired with the 8th Symphony on an old vinyl recording I have...from the late 1960s perhaps...that is how I know this piece...
Where did you get the photos of such wild surf? They comment well on the music, which I much appreciate your posting.
Google, Don. These videos would be impossible without Google Images. Glad you liked it.
Colin, i saw that you like RVW very much, have you live videos of his works?
+Wendel Borges de Oliveira I don't, Wendel. However, there are many recordings of live concerts on TH-cam. It shouldn't be hard to find them.
I'm confused, wasn't this work originally composed for two pianos ? I have a version for two pianos and orchestra, conducted by Boult in an edition by EMI of all RVW's symphonies, and some other orchestral works.
meriadocbrandebouc No, the concerto was oiginally written for a single soloist. VW made a two piano version later.
I remember notes from Vronsky and Babbin ? recording with Boult that the original one piano version was nearly unpayable. VW took the suggestion, from who I don't know, and reworked it for two pianos. I think it can work well in either form. Someone mentioned that parts sound like Ravel. I listened to an early recording of the Ravel String Quartet that Ravel supervised. The 3rd movt struck me as much like VW. Wonderful music.
Where can I find or buy a copy of the score? I couldn't find anywhere! This is not common...
Yaqin Wang It is published by Oxford University Press but seems to be only available for hire. ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780193692718.do
And it is in UK! But thank you!!!!
Thank you!!!! I will check it out.
Is it only available for hire by OUP, or do you know at all if they will actually publish copies of it?
Is there somewhere a complete, comprehensive (and, if possible, chronological) list of RVW's works? I don't remember ever seeing a list that included either the piano concerto or the violin concerto. I know of an oboe concerto, and if there is a viola concerto I'd love to know about it. But actually I'd just like to know all that he composed.
Michael - RVW, who played the viola himself, wrote two major works for the instrument: 'Flos Campi' and the Viola Suite. Flos Campi is a remarkable piece - just about the only work by VW which could be described as 'erotic'. It's inspired by the sensuous poetry of the Song of Soloman and was written, it's rumoured, when the composer was in love with a beautiful viola student at the RCM. I used parts of the viola suite in my biography video. You'll find a complete list of works at the website of the RVW Society.
Yes, very nice, Anya!
Yes, I recently got a CD with both of these and more. Flos Campi is really remarkable and a wonder to listen to. Thank you, Colin.
@@271250cl I always wanted to do Flos Campi...either conduct it, or play that remarkable tenor drum part...one of the choral works of RVW that I never got a chance to perform.....and now probably never will!
I may be wrong, and often am, but do my ears detect hints of Bartok in this. Judging be the dates, it could be the other way around, or cross fertilisation. Two avid collectors of folk songs, you know.......
It's said that Bartok heard RVW's concerto and admired it. I'm pretty
sure RVW would have been aware of BB's music, though I don't think he
took a huge interest in it. As you say, the link is probably the
modality of folk-music, and a very percussive approach to the piano in
the outer movements.
Arnold Bax sound alike?
Not to my ears, Nick; though RVW did use a theme from one of Bax's symphonies in this concerto, later removed.
Isn't this the piece he asked Cohen for "1,000 kisses" for? Can't say I blame him, either: i.imgur.com/UNOJwt0.jpg
Perfect begining, but the last part is too slow and quiet. It is not a A level work.
Wonderful photos ... The music is not something I'd ever like listening to, similar to most English music after Handel. A matter of taste perhaps, but perhaps it's not without further reasons why English music is not highly regarded outside the island. I feel why Bartók liked it, but I don't like Bartók either, except for his piano concertos, which are way better than this one, so there it is.
Peter Simon "English music is not highly regarded outside the island"?! You mean it isn't popular with the ignorant, narrow-minded concert-going public. Musicians themselves, including conductors in all European countries and North America, have the HIGHEST regard for the works of composers such as Elgar, Holst, Britten, Walton, Tippett, and, yes, Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others. In the 20th century, only Russia can boast as great a contribution to the classical repertoire as England (given that Mahler, Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss all began their composing careers in the 19th century). Mind you, I don't know why I'm bothering to reply to someone who does not appreciate Bartok's music.
DieFlabbergast You don't have to reply, but I've never said I don't appreciate Bartok's music, I said I don't like most of it. A great difference. Yet I'm not American, nor British, I'm Hungarian. And I venture the remark that Hungarian composers are more often played for that ignorant public than Tippett, or Walton outside GB. And what can those high-minded musicians do with their regard?
Be careful with that "all". I don't know much about German, or French, or Italian concert repertoires but I can say that those English composers are very rarely heard in Hungary or the Netherlands, except for a handful of pieces by Britten and one piece of Elgar and R.V.Williams respectively, and Walton's guitar pieces are performed. No disrespect, but that's not a very long list. And please, no disrespect for the public either, without them musicians die of hunger.
Besides, we can blame all this on academia exactly, who don't show up wonderful works by other composers from other countries as regarded minor. I'd be happy to enjoy a concert by Borkiewicz, Ch. Wakefield Cadman, A. Gretchaninov, Reynaldo Hahn, Hannikainen, Artur Lemba, J. Marx, Rozycky, or A. Wiklund, although they were born in the 19th c., but sorry, our tastes are different, I don't like music that is too 'modern'. But I have hardly any chance, they aren't put on programs. I think that it is mostly the top institutions that engrave names on people's minds, you can blame them, not ignorance, and people can only go to concerts given to them.
Peter Simon You say that only one piece each by Elgar and R. Vaughan Williams is regularly performed in Europe? If you are right, I think we can blame the European musical academic establishment, which has consistently tried to push the works of the Second Viennese School and their successors (i.e. 12-tone works) down the throats of the concert-going public. Elgar's music belongs to the 19th century, and most of VW's works are hardly "modern" either. There is something seriously wrong if such beautiful music is not played in European concert halls. Fortunately, we live in the age of recorded music, and there is no shortage of recordings of British composers' works.
DieFlabbergast You are right! Although I haven't exactly said European academia as I can't speak for most countries either. But now the choice belongs mostly to the listener and I've included my opinion as only one of them.
Personal taste + also received wisdom, powerful influences on thought and appreciation, even narrow-minded biases, play a part in what is popular and well known. There will always be neglected greatness in international culture. Anglophone pop-rock music dominates, as does Hollywood in cinema, whereas so many marvellous films from round the world (including Hungary of course) are not known by most film goers. Variety is the spice of life and let there be a fair chance for all. Oh, and there are at least some people commenting here from outside UK who admire this and RVW- who knows how many more there might be if his music was played more widely?