Archived: Lark Ascending

A summer’s day, a bird singing in the clear blue sky, ever winging up and up… Vaughan Williams’ radiant vision of the English countryside brings New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall back to the APO.  

Vaughan Williams and his student Douglas Lilburn both deeply admired Sibelius, whose influence is clear in the lean, taut argument of Lilburn’s last orchestral work.  

Sibelius’ suite about the legendary hero Lemminkäinen is most familiar for its movement The Swan of Tuonela. In Finnish mythology, Tuonela is the River of Death, and Sibelius gives the calm anguish of the Swan’s song to a cor anglais.