THE LARK ASCENDING - VAUGHAN WILLIAMS. BOULT/LPO. 1950. PT1

[WYNP1930]

Jean Pougnet taught me the violin and later the viola many years ago at school and conducted the West Sussex County Youth Orchestra for a time when I played in it. He was a lovely, kind and gentle man as well as an excellent fiddle player. If I had practised more I might have been a better player but I still play regularly in the Mid Somerset Orchestra and have had lots of fun over the years so thank you Jean!

[yackulb]

i dont think its the lark ascending / its me ''''''

[fractalesdeneon]

I hope that in future it can solve the static problem but, of course, out of that beautiful piece!.

[pixelfibre]

For six minutes there I was staring into into a hot June sky at about 8.30am with not a breath of wind and all the fat splendidness of an English early summer licking my face. Sublime.

[horlock91]

desert island disks brought me here. thank you DID.

[antofa123]

Wonderful... LPO under Adrian Boult... Not always liked and understood, but in this case sublime.... Shame the recording stops so abruptly!

[xwsftassell]

@antofa123 You have to go to Pt 2.

[antofa123]

@xwsftassell Ahhh thanks!

[couthyband]

please can anyone tell me the name of the RVW symphony based on the folk song "star of the county down"

[xwsftassell]

@couthyband Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.

[couthyband]

@xwsftassell thank you...also for Luke 16 19-31..

[KingFahtah]

God that is beautiful

[manthasagittarius]

How wonderful! The violin solo is from another time, and Sir Adrian was never bettered by anyone, in the way he understood and mediated that whole generation of composers who experienced the Great War.

Love the vinyl too -- every pop. Those were the days.

[worthingSarah]

Thank you so much for not cluttering up this beautiful music with a fussy video. Have just spotted you have also posted Fantasia on a theme by TT, and will be heading there next. Thanks again, how brilliant that vinyl (or shellac!) discs can now be shared on contemporary devices. Just had your v sudden ending, shame it ended that way...

[richardkelltoolmaker]

indeed very good !!

[RuffDiamond23]

I LOVE IT! I love fat underground grooves but I LOVE THIS!

[hughaanderson]

Such an evocative piece. The feeling with which Jean Pugnet plays is very sensitive. It works for me!

[daddio7777777]

In the late 50s the golden hour of my week was Sunday afternoon when Jean Pougnet, my fellowcountryman, conducted the BBC Palmcourt Orchestra. I think the programme was called: ''Your Hundred Best Tunes''.

Anyone remembers ?

[4BellaHeike]

Just wonderful !!! Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵Ʒ

[goroundit123]

glorious playing...composition as well...

[aureliejane]

Amazing,love it.

[MJimiD]

I've heard many compositions that feel too far removed, ya know, but this is unlike anything I've heard. RVW amazes again and again. Brilliant.

[xwsftassell]

Glad you enjoyed!

[bushrat35]

wqw. what playing. He's my grandmothers brother. He used to play with

Dennis Brain. I'm a horn player- I can't believe that I missed out on that

[xwsftassell]

Who, Jean Pougnet? This is actually a really great recording too, the finer points of which were lost via the Quicktime/YouTube compress-o-tron somewhat.

[bushrat35]

who are You? bushrat35

[xwsftassell]

Er... nobody much.

[bushrat35]

Hmph. Wrong box. Crap at this computer lark. Jean Pougnet? How have you heared of him?.

bushrat35

[nerdsonly]

eee by gum

[TheSoulgirl]

That's soooo pretty!

[xwsftassell]

Hello Karen. Glad you like it. I had a real hassle getting this thing down. The vinyl has got a glistening diamond-hard violin sound that melts your brain like a lozenge in the hot sun. Unfortunately digital technology wouldn't hold it, so I had to pull all the EQ down to nothing to get it on YouTube. Consequently, the diamond business isn't featured too well. The wonders of modern technology, eh?

[TheSoulgirl]

Yes, there are something that just aren't the same on computers! All hail the record player :)

[xwsftassell]

Yeah, that's right. Despite conventional wisdom again, something that can be ascertained on a visceral level: Why aren't I getting a blast off these things (CD's etc).

[EuropeanArchive]

It's not that xws... Before 1956 every record label had it's own EQ setting. In 1954 the RIAA did the only good thing they ever did' they standarized the eq settings for all american labels. Europe followed in 1956. But now, all post 1956 players are RIAA standarized, and pre 1956 sound "weird" played on modern equipment. Google "EQ OLD RECORDS" and you get a site with a guide to the setting of pre- 1956 records.

------------------------

Greetings,

Rolf

European Archive, Paris

[xwsftassell]

Well, the subjects of EQ, vinyl, different kinds of vinyl, diamond styli, RPM, digital, etc is a LONG conversation.

[bushrat35]

But how have you heared of Jean Pougnet?

[barrystock]

Sid Smith, author of the definitive King Crimson bio, has been trying to turn me on to Vaughan Williams. This...this is Trio! Or, it's certainly a very deep influence on that piece.

[xwsftassell]

I had a scout around on the web last night to see if I could find that. Alas, I couldn't.

[barrystock]

It's an improvised track from "Starless and Bible Black", recorded live at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, 1973, also available on "The Night Watch", the complete version of the same show without overdubs.

[xwsftassell]

Yeah, so I understand. Of course, Starless and Bible Black comes from Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood" which I took for English Lit O' Level, and loved a lot. Speaking of which: I might see if someone's put The Richard Burton reading up on YouTube. If not: I'll put it up myself. Cheers, Barry!

[feardia]

Thanx man, just the music to get me up with the larks, one love

[door2yourheart]

Another of my many favourite pieces by RVW! The times I have laid on my back on a moor or mountain side, eyes closed, feeling the sun and the breeze. The urgent singing of larks rising above me, totally absorbed, immersed and satiated! Beautiful!

[xwsftassell]

Yeah, I sometimes think: Scrape away all the horrible crap from English Life, and that's what's underneath. TLA resonates with the look and the feel of the English countryside. RVW wrote this just before World War One. I get the impression he knew the world was changing big-time and was in a rush to get the vibe down before it all vanished.

[xwsftassell]

I just watched that Tony Palmer film (which I didn't think was very good, but had some nice moments). They showed the original portable wax cylinder recorder that he used to take round the pubs to record folk-songs on (a bit like the recording walkman I used to take to nighters). It had a great big horn on it that had to stick your face in to sing in it.

[wufwufwufwuf]

REALY LIKE THIS,But i must say you have a very diverse appreciation of music sir

I think from previous comments you know how music works to give us the pleasure it dose

[xwsftassell]

I think most people who've been through the Northern scene do, purely because of the unique way in which person matches themselves to the resonances within that music when they're at a nighter or whatever. Outside of that: the broad mass of people are unable to breach the ringed fence of cultural/material identification for them to access and utilise the vivivifying forces within music, although they might think that they can.

[xwsftassell]

They wouldn't understand why someone would travel 500 miles to a hut in a field in the middle of Scotland and dance on their own for 10 hours solid, nor would they understand the concept of, or the necessity for soul music. Northern soul dancing has to do with ancestral memory. It has the flavour of shamanism and connects with the little we know about the practices of the ancient Celts.

[xwsftassell]

Only a Northern dancer would know this, and then probably only on a visceral level. I think all these things connect up, Northern soul dancing, Scottish highland dancing, Irish step dancing, Eastern sacred dances, but the ancient books have been ripped and scattered and no one has put humpty together again since.

[wufwufwufwuf]

I enjoyed the read immensely thax bud

[TheSoulgirl]

I'm one of those northern dancers ;o)