The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams

'The Lark Ascending', inspired by a poem of the same name by George Meredith, was begun shortly before the outbreak of the First World War but not completed until Vaughan Williams returned from active service in France. This performance is by Nicola Benedetti with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton.

[@Christinecedar]

My dear Mother (died May 3, 2018) listening to The Lark Ascending over and over again during her last days, was very comforting for her, bless her dear soul.🌹

[@robbieharold3498]

Now THAT made me cry, though I was already close with the music and the comments. How beautiful and sad, and thank you for sharing that experience.

[@Christinecedar]

@@robbieharold3498 Thank you Robbie ⭐️❤️

[@driftingwild455]

I played this to both my father and mother when they were dying. 21st May 2016 and 1st April 2018. It has a timelessness and a quality of things changing but not ending. I think that's important. I still feel their presence xx 💕

[@swethastejskal1069]

im 12 years old, and my grandma died on 20 may 2021, im learning this for her funeral, and it was the last thing she asked of me

[@bananacake9289]

So very sorry Christine about your mom 😢😢😢🙏🏻🙏🏻 I also lost mine Jan 2015, and I just know that this music conjured up her absolute love of the countryside, pheasants, deer, foxes 🦊 and squirrels 🐿 which would congregate in her rural ENGLISH garden! plus her flowers 🌸 My own feeling is that this piece IS quintessentially ENGLISH and always will be! Indeed, the very scenes in this video sum up just what I mean…..old cottages, sheep etc!! God bless……hope you’re doing ok! From Worcestershire uk 🇬🇧🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🥰🥰🥰

[@simont190]

Reminds me of when I was a boy of 11 sitting in heather on a hillside on a perfect summers day in 1969 looking out to sea and seeing the larks arising upwards.

[@clairesuzanne1276]

Beautiful memory 🙂

[@jean-francoisrobitaille6560]

Vaughn Williams has to be one of the most underrated composers and should be played more often…

[@joebg47]

He is one of the greats. I don't think he is underrated. Hovhaness is underrated; David Diamond is underrated, but RVW is in the Pantheon of those who are the best.

[@davidwilde8765]

I lost my wife suddenly in May this year. She went out for a walk one evening and never came back - her body was found on a beach nearby the next morning. We loved this music, and it evokes for us the beautiful Exmoor coastal and moorland scenery. I played it at her service in church and at her cremation service. It is so moving, and it comforts me to listen to it and remember our near 50 years together. May she rest in peace.

[@InquisitorLavellan]

I'm so sorry for your loss, I hope you're doing as well as you can be.

[@MJ1919]

Bless you. Despite the hurt, that I would not presume to know, you were so blessed to have been together for so long. Love and comfort to you ❤

[@hokrin]

I appreciate you to do so much good things. I couldn't such heartfelt treatment to my two wives in a row. Lark, sea with Ralph Vaughan Williams.

[@martint.1538]

May God comfort you and your lovely wife where ever she may be , looking down from a far ❤

[@clairesuzanne1276]

Oh David I just put the music on in my office and you Tube'd it and saw this version come up - then read your comment and now I will never listen to it without thinking of you and your wife 😞may i send healing prayers and love to you and your family and hope one day you will both be reunited - love never dies my friend.....never dies xxxx

[@LunaLightbringer]

I have terminal cancer and I plan to have this played at my funeral, it's so sweeping and uplifting 😌 And I know it's much loved by my darling Mum, who I am leaving behind, and whose heart I am breaking ❤

[@271250cl]

Thank you for reaching out. Wishing you the peace and serenity this music represents.

[@tarenw5880]

What a beautiful gesture and I’m so deeply sorry. I know we all have to cross over. It’s something we all have in common, but I don’t believe it makes it any easier. May you be blessed.

[@LunaLightbringer]

Thank you so much for your kind wishes ❤

[@Beruthiel45]

My husband of 60 years passed away on December 23rd, 2023. This has been a transcendant moment for me. Listening to the violin soar and sweep into heaven. 😢💔💖

[@Northumbergull]

Each day, you are one day closer to being with your love face to face once again 🫂

[@haroldtalayumptewa5262]

I always loved Vaughan 's music. I recently loss my wife of 48 years and when I listened to this piece I broke down cried.

[@Fercough]

That's ok. I lost my wife in 2007, I cry some days at the pain still. Embrace your love for her. X

[@riverreasteve]

Guys, lost my wife too in 2021. Good to hear Im not alone with these emotions!

[@2_Normal_Ted_Junior]

I’m sorry, man. There is something in this music that captures a beauty that can never die, the mystery is of life itself.

[@TRUTHorSTFU]

Blessings be upon You and your Beloved Wife. 🙏This is certainly music for one's Beloved, be that another cherished Soul or our Creator.

[@TRUTHorSTFU]

​@@riverreasteveSame here, 2021. We are not alone. 🙏

[@seansheridan5402]

I have lived in Australia for 60years. But for me to return to my beloved homeland, all I have to do,is listen to this beautiful music.

[@ogredad55]

@seansheridan5402 That's beautifully expressed, Sean!

[@mjw12345]

Interesting I discovered this some years ago - it opens The Year My Voice Broke a wonderful Australian movie! I see the movie is on YT..

[@morriganravenchild6613]

This remains one of the most outstanding pieces of music ever in my opinion. It captures perfectly the tranquility of a warm summer's afternoon deep in the leafy English countryside. This peace you rarely find in life now which makes this so special.

[@sheilabang3942]

Indeed!!!

[@petersmyth6604]

How perfectly put!..Could not agree more...sublime music indeed!❤

[@MARSBELLA1]

It was inspired by WW1 - V Williams had an amazing life. He wrote this in France. When he saw small glimpses of beauty. At the beginning such as a tree or kindness. Even writing about it makes me emotional. Truly one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

[@beartoven6116]

Good to know, how you see it.

[@2_Normal_Ted_Junior]

It’s the only presence I’ve ever trusted fully.

[@johndevon9882]

My early life I guess was one of hardship. I now sit in my garden overlooking the green hills of Dartmoor in Devon and am reminded of where I was and where I am now. As I reflect on my dificult journey this music takes me back through those memories , so grateful that someone greater was looking out for me all along.

[@reacher2526]

Beautiful words. This gives me hope that me and my wife's hardships will also soon come to an end...

[@tallen1628]

Thanks for the hopeful message, I hope to find myself in a similar place one day. Enjoy the peace.

[@johndevon9882]

I am sure you will. Good luck to you for the future@@tallen1628

[@SolveEtCoagula93]

You were one of the lucky ones. Some of us remain in hardship all the way through - I'm 73 and can't wait to finally fall asleep! I've had enough.

[@lorrainebennett7528]

The Lark Ascending and Tales from Thomas Tallin are the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

[@giveover100]

My country was/is beautiful...please no more glass concrete and tarmac covering the homes of small scampering creatures, trees and places of mystery. Alas Vaughan Williams land is shrinking but kept alive through this music...thank you.

[@Fercough]

This and Albatross are so wonderfully light and airy. The sensation of flying is mental freedom. Joyous.

[@mopjockey]

My favorite piece of music ever. Someday I will be blind, but that is ok because beauty such as this exists to hear.

[@wiganjim]

Sadly the England I grow old in, and my children mature has never needed a statement so profound; as ambiguous as this. I hope my children can understand my love for this, as much as I love them, and the country of my birth. I hope they see the beauty :)

[@davidrisher3552]

Ralph Vaughan Williams can touch my soul like no other - one of the greatest composers ever - This performance by Benedetti on her Strat is the best I've heard - a work of beauty - like her

[@michaeldavies4005]

Strad? 😂

[@sierrasix2003]

@@michaeldavies4005 MDR! En francais!

[@rosejoy07]

Even in times like this when the world is pretty messed up it is music like this that gives me hope for the future

[@larrydunn5556]

One of the most transcendent pieces of music ever written. Nicola Benedetti is a gift from heaven! Ralph Vaughan Williams would have more than approved!

[@shin-i-chikozima]

I was being held in mother,s bosom and was listening to this song around a child . My mother was listening to this song with tears in her eyes . In memory of late my mother .

[@shin-i-chikozima]

@Susan Moran Thank-you so much to your wonderful and impressed reply ！ In Japan , the rainy season of our discontent and grumbling comes over . It's indispensable to growth of the rice , but gloomy days last nearly one month to us . After the rainy season is over , all shines , and hot and heat summer to be full of dynamism comes over . In our pensive Tokyo , in the endless vibrant night view of Tokyo , the various emotions of 14 million people's sorrow , pleasures , grief , suffering , regret , lamentation and anger are blended together , shining as if those feeling were colorful neon lights . Someday please come to Tokyo where is full of dynamism , surprises , mystery and delicious foods . Take care of yourself Good luck ！ Be on the alert for Coronavirus infection .

[@kirksavva1748]

@@shin-i-chikozimathat was beautiful. You have more poetry?

[@shin-i-chikozima]

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[@matthewthomas8432]

I thank my Father in Heaven for his great creation and for enabling this tune to confirm everything, every type of emotion that a human could possibly have. Thank you Mr Williams. You have blessed countless thousands with this work. RIP. Lest we forget

[@aaronford3083]

Amen!

[@richardlewis1395]

To my mind one of the most beautiful and touching pieces of music ever written. And the wonderful images add immeasurably to my enjoyment.

[@johnprudent3216]

I remember hearing this piece for the very first time around 2005 or so on my father’s sound system. It was playing during a classical block on a radio station. Blew my mind and introduced me to the beautiful, different world that classical music could be outside of Bach, Beethoven and the other usual suspects. This was the first classical music piece that made me truly feel something as I listened to it on some nights (even brought a tear to my eye once). The version I listened to was the perfect (to me) 16 plus minute version. The soloist and orchestra were so on point that no other version would do. If it was one minute less or sped up In anyway, I could spot the difference and just stop it. I’m a bit older now. My father who loved all kinds of music is no longer with us. But I still love this piece. This particular rendition is beautifully done and makes me feel like I just discovered it like all those years ago when my Pop had that radio station on. Thanks for uploading this beautiful rendition.

[@abdulmohamed4176]

Never in my life did ever think music would touch me deeply. But hearing this amazing masterpiece by accident, my heart bursts with emotions I have held onto for soo long, crying all out.

[@271250cl]

+Abdul Mohamed Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Abdul.

[@marvinc999]

+Abdul Mohamed I envy you - for having only just discovered this piece of transcendentally-beautiful music.

[@GerardBeaubrun]

+Abdul Mohamed I'm floored by such outpouring of emotion and eloquence

[@BeltaineRose]

+Abdul Mohamed It is so beautiful ,I really understand your sentiments .This piece has lifted my heart and spirit ......

[@sberu9528]

As a survivor for 71 years on the planet, watching some things pass from view forever, it is reassuring that people can still discover and rediscover what they never knew or have forgotten. It is a good thing for a man to cry for beauty's sake. We are not broken we are all becoming .......

[@wendyhardin5259]

This piece always brings me to tears. It’s so beautiful.

[@lylemacdonald6672]

Same with me.

[@WouterTukker]

Divine, just divine ... I know many performances of this piece of music but this performance outshines them all, both musically and visually ... It is as if heaven is opening up and shedding its light upon us, poor mortals as we are, yet letting us share in heaven´s grace, ascending as larks ...

[@lindacharing7355]

I too am an atheist but I think there is a deep spiritual need in all of us. This amazing piece of music reaches that spirit and makes me cry also. It is so beautiful. Life is truly amazing.

[@AndyJarman]

I believe this is the music Mole and Ratty listened to when they heard those pipes on that island in the river.

[@suecomstock3226]

Linda, It is amazing and it brings me in awe of my God. It is such a blessing for me to hear it.

[@1Thedairy]

Isn’t it? We are lucky to seek out the beauty in it

[@dave5605]

I hear this, and despite everything that’s happening in the world, I just feel there is hope. This represents the best of humanity. It’s what we are really capable of. Utterly, utterly beautiful

[@davidpritchard9069]

Amen to that brother.

[@desallen2174]

I love your optimism but, unfortunately the world of politics doesn't work like that. Happy to co concur that it is utterly beautiful.

[@JS-xn3ql]

It’s about a bird anyway lol

[@robertr6675]

Will be played at my funeral. There. Have made my decision.

[@MarionWebber]

Lovely, isn't it wonderful that we have artists who create beauty to restore the human spirit during troubling times? Thank you Ralph and Nicola.

[@Stephaniewashere]

I long for days 7 years ago when those troubling timed were fabricated by the media and crooked politicians. Now we are going to hell and fast. This music helps a little.

[@BeverleyGrange]

The most stunning piece of music...reminds me when I'm walking the dog..with the larks above singing

[@davidpritchard9069]

Such an emotional piece. Me and my brother Jim moved into a flat in our early 20's in 2000..this was on classic fm when we switched on our Technics....we played it the day we left 2004...it felt fitting. I'll sometimes listen to it when im a bit flat..it reminds me of Jim!..then I smile..perfect.

[@j0o235]

My heart has ❤finally found❤ classical music ❤😉it only took me 66 years 😁

[@neilbuchanan9389]

The blend of mass strings and a beautiful solo rendition is unsurpassed. This has to be in the top 3 of any music genre!

[@sueconlon628]

Such a very beautiful piece of music deserves to be number one in a classical history. It pulls at your heart in such a physical way.I love it and lament, oh beautiful land of England my lion hearted home.

[@greenhands8959]

I watched this women last night on the BBC Proms for the first ever I felt classical music, I've never really cared, but this had my jaw dropping and tears streaming right down my neck, such a journey to be taken on.

[@icespittingfire]

that was an incredible performance, all the more moving for the lack of audience and touching moments between soloist and orchestra at the end. she was a last minute substitute too as i recall? it was a breathtakingly good performance, she's a genius.

[@openmusic3904]

Amazing, she really makes the violin sing, like a lark! There were parts of the performance where she made the violin sound unmistakably bird-song like. Wonderful performance.

[@robertendean5989]

This piece sounds so English, it could only been written by an Englishman. It invokes summer days walking on the rolling hills in my county of Sussex. RVW never gets the recognition he truly deserves, he wrote some truly beautiful music. Thanks for sharing.

[@071949]

Robert, Agreed. But in some passages do you not think it sounds as if RVW was influenced by Chinese music? In any event, The Lark Ascending" is one of my favorite compositions, and Nicola's performance is first-rate. 11/13/2014

[@271250cl]

071949 Any apparent 'Chinese' influence is coincidental; RVW often uses pentatonic scales, which are also common in traditional Chinese music. In fact, pentatonic scales are common in folk-music all over the world.

[@071949]

Colin Thank you for contributing to my musical "education". I enjoy listening to music, but I am almost totally ignorant of the "mechanics" of how it is created. Looking forward to exploring more of your uploads. 11/14/2014

[@271250cl]

I know very little about the technicalities of music, either 071949! But you must have a 'good ear' to make the connection between RVW and Chinese music! It's all in these special pentatonic scales. His most 'Chinese' sounding piece is the last movement of his 8th Symphony. See what you think. Meantime I hope you enjoy some of my other videos.

[@071949]

Colin Thank you for responding. I "hear" what you mean about the RVW 8th. One of my favorite "connections" is the first movement of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G and the music of George Gershwin. I note that they both passed away in 1937. A reminder that the boundaries between genres can be VERY flexible! 11/14/2014

[@trudyturvey8401]

This is the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard-it always reduces me (or elevates me!) to tears.

[@burtingtune]

+Trudy Turvey I feel the same; it's the brilliance of Vaughan William's music that it can uplift you and make you experience a feeling of loss at the same time. I also think he is the composer who best encapsulates Englishness.

[@bradgibson9858]

It is a truly beautiful piece that I feel Williams not only captured nature and a bird in flight, but all of the grief that must have seeped into him after carting all those broken bodies and souls of the men in his ambulance who endured the western front. A piece of despair and hope and I agree with the para, it is something to stir the soul and make one weep if you have a soul.

[@jacquelinecrichton7397]

I do have a soul. This beautiful music surely, shall never be surpassed. My father, my uncles all WW2 veterens but I'm confident they would have lain in a a hay meadow with only the lark ascending - I wish eternally I was with them. All sadly passed but missed daily.

[@jbut1208]

We all have a soul! Whether we are prepared to acknowledge or not God made us with a soul!

[@InvestingForTomorrow24]

Stupendous achievement for a spirit to triumph over the insanity of war with a composition depicting infinite peace and beauty.

[@whateva8964]

13:30 - this chordal resolve is so simple and sublime. And it moves my heart everytime i hear it.

[@riverdart2068]

This piece encapsulates England and all that she means and how precious she is. England is still out there, beyond the stews of the cities and towns and she still calls us...

[@yvonnestephens656]

So very beautiful. Words aren't enough. This wondrous piece brings me to tears every time, but at the same time is uplifting.

[@philipross2013]

RVW lived in Dorking ,the town where I was born in 1947. The Dorking Halls were built for this man and my mother and father saw him conduct there I would think during the war. I have a letter that was left to me which my mother held dear. She was a secretary during WW2 at a school in Dorking and RVW came to see a school concert and she kept the letter he wrote saying how he was looking forward to the visit. Any wonder his music is so touching.

[@271250cl]

+philip ross Thanks for sharing that memory Philip. I am a Trustee of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. If you were able to scan the letter and mail it to me I know several RVW scholars who would be interested in seeing it. My email is [e-mail] Happy new year and thanks for taking the time to respond.

[@paulcadogan7033]

Vaughan Williams and strings are a gift to our planet.

[@TheRandomPhangirl]

I met Nicola Benedetti when I was five and just starting violin, and she played this piece. It had a massive effect on me and I think shaped the player I am today; the first time I played the opening bars of this wonderful music I broke down in years because it was just that emotional for me.

[@pauldesborough6845]

Sunday morning, sat in my garden beneath a milky sun with a cup of tea, listening to this enchanting piece. I wish I could have shaken RVM's hand and thanked him.

[@markhoward4999]

I am a Lancashire lad born and bred, I've been living in Australia for some time now, but my heart will alway call England home, I have just spent the last 16:09 minutes with tears in eyes and an ache in my heart. Damn you HOMESICKNESS !!!!..Thanks anyway Colin for posting....Now where are those tissues ?

[@271250cl]

Yes, it's that kind of music, isn't it, Mark? Glad you liked it.

[@nickthomas181]

Lancashire lad ?Well hello fom myself in Burnley Im sure its so much warmer your end and yes it moves you to such emotion dosnt it. Now I must go and walk me whippet and of course feed the pidgeons and do all the other cliches were so famous for in Lancashire lol.

[@fedism]

Im from miami but grew fond of your homeland because i can really feel myself there with this music. Are modern inventions coming close to this piece ?

[@271250cl]

Fedism - you asked if 'modern inventions are coming close to this piece'. I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. I have deliberately included only pictures of the countryside of England but of course we also have huge cities, freeways, factories and powerstations. A lot of England is very modern and ugly - I only included the nice parts!

[@ryanhaynes1825]

Colin I believe he means contemporary compositions in the same spirit.

[@DuhWhawtchur]

Bro I'm in tears reading the comments. How is this so much beauty and so much sadness at once.

[@MakeMusicVideos]

As a music teacher and student, one of my greatest pleasures is experiencing RVW. This is one of my absolute favorites!

[@wendydavis8130]

I loved this, it made me cry the music is so captivating and imagery stunning. England is the best place on earth isn't it.

[@271250cl]

So glad you enjoyed it Wendy. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@PeterBrodie]

Was. But we've taken its destruction further and further since those days - now going stronger than ever with HS2, golf courses, and a huge loss of rural life even since my childhood.

[@charlierumoldboi3939]

Think VW would be turning in his grave now if he could see the shit hole this country has become.

[@pepe198499]

Vaughan Williams, being a lifelong dedicated socialist would, I believe, be utterly distraught by the England of 2020.

[@pepe198499]

@LarkAscending I don't really know how Williams could have been a socialist of any era other than the one he inhabited. A socialist of any era wishes to preserve nature and the countryside. It is entirely coherent, then as now, to be a socialist and proud of one's cultural heritage and desire to preserve it. It seems like 'socialism' is a catch all boogeyman for you, with your nonsensical adjectives describing it, borrowed, I might add, quite directly from Hitler. That should help you understand who has framed your understanding of socialism in the modern media, i.e. sympathisers of the far-right.

[@carolparkin4631]

My mother chose this as the entry music to her own funeral , beautiful uplifting music , God bless you Mum 🕊

[@paulwaring3871]

A Divine piece of Music composed by a Genius

[@sarahmason7544]

Absolutely exquisite, love this piece of music

[@craigholt3485]

This is what I listen to every morning.

[@bernardf326]

Bonjour Amis britannique ! Un commentaire en français (je me sens très seul 😉) Magnifique musique, je ferme les yeux et m'imagine arpentant la campagne vallonnée du Sud de l'Angleterre. Mes pensées apaisées vagabondes... Merci

[@TimDrewery-c7p]

It is for the main part associated with the loss of a loved one. I find it totally different I love walking and to here the larks climbing and falling its so intoxicating. God bless anyone who loves this piece of music ❤

[@pauldesborough6845]

So very sorry for posting twice but this is physically making me weep with emotion, and I'm a 15 stone paratrooper.

[@271250cl]

Paul Desborough Glad you like it Paul and thanks for both your responses!

[@mrmcd6787]

Paul Desborough I'm with you mate, subliminal English Romantic Folk Classical Music..... it ticks a lot of boxes.... but never mind pigeon holing it, it's just beautiful...... Yon Marbleflat below seems to be a bit parnickity..... Paul's just expressing his love of this music and I'm with him on that.

[@DaveDexterMusic]

Paul Desborough I think this might be a new evolution of the "I like [X] music and I'm only [Y] years old" comment type. Plus side, music making you weep is about the most splendid agony there is, so you're good.

[@dbn52]

Paul Desborough My husband also tears up on this one. Get's him every time I play this. He is 6 ft 6 inches and about 275 lbs.He served in the US army. You big tough guys are really just big teddy bears. My birds think it's another bird singing to them and sing back. We have a new neighbor who is from Russia and a classical violinist.When he played the violin part of this I needed a box of Kleenex. Wonderful stuff

[@manthasagittarius1]

Paul Desborough The entire generation and their music is saturated with it. To know that the composer was too old to go into the army at 41 and lied about his age, so greatly did he want to serve -- and then served as a stretcher bearer retrieving wounded from the field for over a year, at his age -- and the toll, not only physical but psychological at that relentlessly gruesome exposure - and then reflect again that this piece encompasses both the before and after sensibilities . . . something is lying under the score that runs far deeper than a fresh and lovely morning (or quiet evening) in the country, and your big warriors who listen in tears can still feel it a century later.

[@girlplanetboy]

For me @2:33 when the strings come in, I get an overwhelming sense of it representing the moment when consciousness first came into being and saw the glory of life in existence.

[@hermajesty52]

"Beauty will save the world"---Dostoevsky. THIS is beautiful. thank you Colin

[@1Thedairy]

I do hope he is right

[@cindyj5522]

You can see the Dreamer and the Creator in Ralph Vaughan Williams' face. His music so informs how they interact. My very favorite.

[@shin-i-chikozima]

Whenever I listen to this masterpiece she plays with splendid skill the sadness and nostalgia in me oozes out

[@worcestermark]

Thanks for the up Colin. I believe Mr Vaughan Williams would have been as delighted as me at Ms Benedetti's performance of his sublime masterpiece. I was with a Frenchman once who said, what is the greatest British music, Thomas Arne?. I said you must be joking, we have RVW, Holst Bax, Alwyn and many more who are the equal of Debussy and Ravel, your two finest composers.

[@1RAHRAH]

I felt myself soaring. I felt my breathing calm to almost stillness. I felt just the hint of tears around the edges. I've been listening to this piece all day and it makes me feel the same each time. So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[@heathkitchen6475]

Best version on KZbin.

[@normamulligan132]

Music that touches the soul - a magical interlude filled with joy! Superb!!

[@nick3551]

Im lucky to live in beautiful Wiltshire, and when I'm walking my dog up on Battlesbury Hill, I have this music playing. It's breathtaking.

[@kmcoady1]

The piece is amazing but her playing brings me to tears.

[@ruudvanwuyckhuise6519]

Great music. i will probably play it too when my days are numbered.

[@AlgisKemezys]

Oh my! A genius piece of music that takes your soul and gives it relief.

[@brianfoley4328]

This is the first time hearing The Lark Ascending...beautiful work.

[@johngialanellajr8650]

How could 40 people dislike this. I guess they prefer Rap and Hip Hop crap. I listen to Pop and some Rock, but know this is top quality.

[@271250cl]

It's 41 now, John! Strange isn't it?

[@daveboyt6810]

His piece titled La Fantasia is a favorite in my family. He was truly a musical genius.

[@chrisdansey2600]

He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound, Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake. For singing 'til his heaven fills, 'Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows To lift us with him as he goes 'Til lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings. Lines from Meredith's poem inscribed by Vaughan Williams on the flyleaf of his original score.

[@robertcohn8858]

Nicola Benedetti's performance is just wonderful in this beautiful work. Also, kudos to the the clarinetist that adds such poignancy. Thank you all.

[@dougquinton4040]

Never realised the beauty of the violin until my daughter started playing it. The beauty of the high notes in this piece is exquisite.

[@TheBinoyVudi]

Closed my eyes while listening and could see the lark soaring higher and higher carried by the winds, rising higher and higher above the rocky Canyon and the river below.. what a beautiful piece

[@johnmuller4014]

I'm an ex-New Yorker who lives in AZ (about as far removed from the English countryside as you can get.) But it is the genius of this man that he can move anyone deeply. Please, folks, spare us the hidden (and not so hidden) agendas and just enjoy the beauty.

[@271250cl]

+John Muller It's good to know that this music reaches out to people well beyond the shores of this little island! Thanks for your comment, John.

[@mopjockey]

+John Muller Agreed sir, no agendas here with the exception of moving back to Surprise AZ someday. Lark Ascending has been my favorite piece since I began listening to classical in high school.

[@ritacharters5529]

+Colin - no doubt Congratulations

[@debrahouston2884]

I ADORE this work... Truly, inspired by God Himself... And this performance is par excellence!... Bless you, RVW! 💞

[@TiasAhlgreN]

This immeasurably beautiful piece never seize to amaze me. I cry often when I listen to it, but I leave from the experience - with a strong feeling of having been reinvigorated. I am forever humbly thankful for the works of such fine human beings. Faith in humanity momentarily restored.

[@271250cl]

◢ тне Scαɴᴅıɴανıαɴ Aтнеısт ◣ It is good to hear that you enjoy this music! Thanks for the comment.

[@kiyaneddaoudi12]

+Colin This music was brilliant- so calm and serene.

[@danielpincus221]

+◢ тне Scαɴᴅıɴανıαɴ Aтнеısт ◣ Lovely thoughts. In English it is "it never ceases to amaze me." :-)

[@kimneal2288]

Wish i could cry , so wish i could cry

[@michaelcox496]

This wonderful nearly piece of music .to know so many more people love this like I do and to have it playing as you come to your time on this would be wonderful .I hope does this for me when my time comes

[@shin-i-chikozima]

This masterpiece will transcend time , race , nation and space This masterpiece is forever Since I listen to and compare many this work's performances , I can understand the talent , ability and skill of this violinist . From Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵

[@271250cl]

So glad you like this music. Thanks for commenting.

[@paulrothwell9033]

My goodness this piece of music evokes a real serenity in these turbulent and uncertain times. Vaughan Williams piece of music captures my many wonderful cycle rides in the beautiful Cotswolds. Irrespective of our differences (Brexit it and all of that Palaver) we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Sadly we don't often appreciate

[@1Thedairy]

Ah yes I grew up in the beautiful Cotswolds too and we would cycle around all the villages too.

[@theGentlemanCaller73]

For me the most sublime piece of music ever recorded. It brings tears to my eyes every times I hear. So evocative, so enlightening. It stirs the souls and heals the heart.

[@paulclark1779]

I listen to "the Lark Ascending" and quietly weep as I wonder where my darling wife has gone to, as she endures her Dementia with Lewy bodies disease.

[@271250cl]

I hope this music is a comfort, Paul.

[@paulclark1779]

@@271250cl It allows to grieve Colin

[@paulclark1779]

It helps me to grieve as a little more of her disappears for ever

[@johnc485]

Played tonight at the wonderful service at Westminster Abbey, 100 years tonight when the world changed forever. Glad to have found this version by Nicola, my favourite Scottish violinist. Thank You

[@psclynch7820]

I always come back here.

[@SuperCasey1972]

Up until a few short days ago I was what you could call a classical virgin, but having listened to this I too was a blubbering mess and since then I can't stop listening to it. Right now I'm sat in a field in the Welsh countryside with my dog surrounded by birdsong and "A lark ascending"😂

[@271250cl]

Lee Jones Glad you like it, Lee!

[@FlyingKeo045]

This takes me back to my childhood out walking in the countryside in Scotland in summers past and trying to see the unique little larks flying high in the sky with them sounding so happy.

[@FlyingKeo045]

@Susan Moran Thanks for the reply. Those were my "Huckleberry Finn" days---no worries, no mobile phones, no money then---but happy days. This brilliant musical composition conjures up the memories.

[@mjlegend3185]

This is such beautiful piece of music. It reminds me of beautiful countryside nature

[@davidbarrett1487]

Magical music places you in the countryside of the British isles, the soul of these lands, imagine times long gone, you standing there. These lands are magical, the music casts its spell & confirms.

[@preeves915]

When searching for music for my dear Mum's recent funeral, I read an online article by Simple Minds' lead singer Jim Kerr, saying that this was his favourite piece of classical music. I listened to it here and realised that it would be perfect - and it was.

[@juliasanders1441]

His song, the key to a small gate in walls so high they separate me from that fair green place lives in my mind

[@HuxleyWasRight]

you can almost smell the English countryside when you listen to Vaughn Williams.

[@zaferteomete2619]

FANTASTİC MUSİC

[@C02045]

I close my eyes and see and hear the gorse seeds popping under summer sun, on the Surrey heathland of my childhood

[@geoffstephenson3932]

So quintessentially english, beautiful.

[@sallymolineux1164]

it is a truly emotional, descriptive and simply wonderful piece of music, Nicola is without doubt a amazing violinist her skill in playing and being able to communicate the emotions and message of any piece music is outstanding but when she plays this piece she is sublime . you can hear the lark flying high the pain of men in the trenches who are missing home and the hopes and dreams of Vaughan Williams.

[@ericmichel3857]

"What do we do with it?" "We leave it, for whoever passes through, so they can hear it."

[@AngelusFlat]

+Eric Michel It's almost as though the British writer of the Childhood's End screenplay had read the Wikipedia article about The Lark Ascending: "In the lark's song, the human 'millions rejoice For giving their one spirit voice'" and "It rises in that pure song into the highest heavens and is maintained there, ... soaring nearer towards silence."

[@ericperu1542]

+Eric Michel What is this quote from?

[@ericmichel3857]

+Eric Peru It is from Childhoods End, a three part miniseries shown on the SYFY channel recently. The screen play was adapted from the science fiction novel called Childhoods End, written by the late great Arthur C Clark. The quote was from the last scene of the miniseries while this music was played, the quote wasn’t in the book but it worked well for the movie. The series was close to the book and very well done, Arthur would have been proud.

[@musiclady49]

+Eric Michel We watched it too. Very provocative, mysterious and sad all at once.

[@vincents5154]

Just finished re-watching it for my 5th time today. What a stunning piece this is; movingly transcendant. I am planning to read the book before summer's close.

[@steveturpin4242]

A beautiful piece played superbly! Thank you.

[@smyl71]

Where words end, this begins.

[@271250cl]

How true

[@mirror1675]

And yet here you were writing words

[@susanfriedman3752]

So very beautiful...just touches the depths of the soul.

[@nickscott6139]

There are certain pieces of music that just hit our inner emotions. The contemporary musicians can do it and this composer captured a particular period which hits an emotional spot for those of us luckily born in the early 1950,s.