The Lark Ascending - A Tale of Two Violinists

One of my favorite pieces of music is Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending".

It is majestic, fragile, happy, sad, vibrant, subdued and emotional.
Every note, every harmony is perfect from the beginning of the piece until it whispers to an end after 16 minutes.

This "pastoral romance for orchestra" resonates through the listener with an almost spiritual bliss. It brings me back over and over again.

I think I probably heard it first on Laura Carlo's WCRB program. [She has introduces me to much of my favorite music]  Because of my love for this piece, I became curious as to how other musicians and conductors handled it. The questions in my mind were - "would I love every rendition?", "how different would it be with another conductor?"

There are no shortage of versions of this amazing work. However, being a bit of a Julia Fischer fanboy, I of course started there. Actually, I was researching her violin...

Julia played the Booth Stradivarius for ~ four years.

Haven't you wondered how a top-shelf virtuoso chooses the instrument that they play? How they care for such a treasure? I often even wonder what the responsibility of care-taking a priceless human wonder (like an original Strad) would feel like. So as I was reading about the Booth, I discovered that it was once owned by Iona Brown. <question arises> what must she have sounded like - to play such an insrument <end question>

After a quick search on youtube, I found Iona playing The Lark Ascending :)
A very happy discovery for me.

So now I have two of the most wonderful classical musicians of our time playing the same piece (maybe on the same instrument?).

Iona's version was recorded in 1972 with the Academy of Saint Martin in-the-Fields (Neville Marriner conducting).

Julia's was from a 2011 recording with Orchestre Philharmonique De Monte Carlo.

The obvious difference is the quality of the recordings. After all, it was a 40 year interval between the two. The Iona Brown version sounded weaker with the violin a bit further down in the mix. I suppose with modern recording, Julia's performance was able to be brought forward, as it is more pronounced.

Aside from technical improvements, the two recordings are strikingly similar.
Both artists are masterful in their renditions and both supporting orchestras are flawless.

Listen to Iona Brown's version on youtube: CLICK HERE

Listen to Julia Fischer's version on youtube: CLICK HERE







So a fabulous piece of music with many wonderful interpretations.
In fact, as I am writing this, I am listening to the wonder Hilary Hahn (2 x Grammy winner) perform this piece with the London Symphony Orchestra - and her heartfelt rendition may become one of my favorites. Listen to it here