Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending. Hilary Hahn - Violin.

Inspired by a poem by George Meredith, some lines of which Vaughan Williams used to preface his score, "The Lark Ascending" is played here by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis. The violinist is Hilary Hahn. The photographs are taken from the internet and are of the South Downs of England, the area where I grew up and where, in memory, the lark's rill of song seemed ever present. 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 till 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. Till lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings.