BBC Proms 2013: Watch Vaughan Williams's Toward the Unknown Region

[@FlowEckurt]

Many thanks to Vaughan Williams for this wonderful harmonious work 🍀

[@kamelpasha]

ah! all the fresh young faces! the freshness of the reading! keeping RVW alive! and oh, SO English! 🇬🇧

[@vincem3748]

What a majestic finish!! Brings back memories of my performing this piece for the PMEA Region VI chorus, all the way back in 2000. Thank you for sharing!

[@barbmiller9285]

It had to be a sublime and unmatchable experience to perform this piece. The choir looks like it would be impossible to do anything other than sing this work.

[@JohnProthero]

Other than RVW's "Serenade to Music", this is one of his most stellar works.

[@bobh5087]

RVW at his very finest! What a stupendous work! ❤️

[@WhySoSeriousHmmm]

Absolutely STUNNING. I'm crying.

[@michaelmurphy326]

Because most listen and you hear.....

[@PoshPaws2703]

They are brilliant I learnt part of this 3 years ago love to learn it all

[@jeanrobinson705]

What a fabulous performance of a terrific piece. Wonderful to sing, wonderful to listen to!

[@carolinelangley376]

Fantastic performance - so rousing. Really looking forward to singing this with our choir !!

[@RenataBatissacoDuarte]

Thanks Hans Wohlfarth ! And thank you for all the great poetry and music!

[@thegrandfleet]

Sound quality best when you listen to this through headphones - magnificent!!!!

[@darrenniman874]

Magnificent!!! So much more than a Lark flying around!

[@NicLaue]

We'll be singing this for the 150th anniversary of the University of New Hampshire at the choral gala! So pumped!!

[@Henini05]

This is fantastic!

[@MyTroubadour]

Grandiose et fascinant. Bravo les Britanniques pour organiser de tels concerts !

[@Calypso19]

Performing this in January. Now I'm excited! Thank you! This is gorgeous!

[@CurtisHawkington]

Excellent! Listen on a decent machine and the sound is first class!

[@burton48]

Marvelous performance !!

[@trombonedave43]

Being performed on the First night of the proms this year can't wait to hear it again

[@barbmiller9285]

Is this available to view anywhere?

[@FranciscoFerrerGaliana1930]

Simplemente maravilloso..¡¡

[@peterfoster4407]

Beautifully conducted by such a young man.The beeb certainly knows how to put on a concert.One of RVW's finest choral works.I read that he had a bet with his friend Holst as to who could composes the best Toward The Unknown Region. RVW won.

[@baracus901]

Thought that was A Dirge for two Veterans🤔

[@JeremyWong194]

We're doing this in May. So excited! :D

[@FranciscoFerrerGaliana1930]

Absolutamente grandioso.¡¡¡

[@FlowersInHisHair]

240p? This deserves better.

[@davidwoods8181]

This is excellent!

[@RumorHasItt]

Just performed this with the Plymouth Philharmonic. Singing is a workout when you do it right, lemme tell ya LOL.

[@PoshPaws2703]

That spot on if you do not fell exhausted after a rehearsal you have not worked hard enough

[@blahblahblahEMILY]

sobbing

[@pastor-tom-sims]

“Toward the Unknown Region” R. Vaughan Williams (UK): 1906 Written when he was 34: set to a text by Walt Whitman. Darest thou now, O Soul, Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region, Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow? No map, there, nor guide, Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand, Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land. I know it not, O Soul; Nor dost thou-all is a blank before us; All waits, undream’d of, in that region that inaccessible land. Till, when the ties loosen, All but the ties eternal, Time and Space, Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds, bound us. Then we burst forth-we float, In Time and Space, O Soul prepared for them; Equal, equipt at last (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O Soul.

[@RenataBatissacoDuarte]

Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900. Whispers of Heavenly Death WHISPERS of heavenly death, murmur’d I hear; Labial gossip of night-sibilant chorals; Footsteps gently ascending-mystical breezes, wafted soft and low; Ripples of unseen rivers-tides of a current, flowing, forever flowing; (Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?) I see, just see, skyward, great cloud-masses; Mournfully, slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing; With, at times, a half-dimm’d, sadden’d, far-off star, Appearing and disappearing. (Some parturition, rather-some solemn, immortal birth: 10 On the frontiers, to eyes impenetrable, Some Soul is passing over.)

[@rogerjohnson9946]

Great performance. Visual quality not good but the sound is fine and the performance excellent. Well done.

[@wafflesthearttoad6916]

0:52

[@WhameWhame]

Really nice, disappointed by the quality though.

[@fastfriendtigerlily]

Yes, the sound quality is awful, isn't it? Great pity!

[@Listenerandlearner870]

A good massed sound but last night's Prom performance was even better. Soraki Oramo acheived far more musical imagination and the BBCSO and Chorus have so much more musical maturity and know what to do with the music.

[@danmoran454]

@ Alex tea drinker: What does "musical maturity" mean? BTW, it's fine to prefer one performance over the other, but it shows a lack of maturity to put other ensembles down in order to pump other ensembles up.

[@Listenerandlearner870]

@@danmoran454 it means the performers are able to show they have more musical experience. It also depends on the conductor. A different conductor might have done better. A very fine NYO performance is Schoenberg's die Gurrelieder conducted by Boulez. It is on youtube. The NYO is usually wonderful but with Petrenko in that RVW work the performance could have been better.

[@danmoran454]

@@Listenerandlearner870 "it means the performers are able to show they have more musical experience." Yeah, that's what I thought you meant by it and I don't agree with that line of thinking. With musicians of this caliber and regardless of their age (having been trained by the best, regardless of who the performance conductor is), it really doesn't matter who the conductor is, as it didn't in this performance, they still produced superb results. As they probably could have done without a conductor at all! Or have the First Concertmaster serve as a "guide" during the performance. This performance was among the best I've heard particularly from a choral standpoint.

[@royhumphrey49]

Frustrating there are no surtitles. Also, the picture quality is poor from the BBC.

[@danmoran454]

@ Roy Humphrey: Why would you need subtitles when their diction was very clear?