8.00PM CONCERT & TALK
String Quartet No.1 in G minor (1908)
The Speaker
James Day is a well-known admirer of Vaughan Williams and is the author of the volume about him in the ‘Master Musicians’ series (Oxford University Press; 3Rev Ed edition (Jan 2005)).
The Singer
Edmund Hastings is in his third year as a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge. He is a pupil of Ashley Stafford.
The Works
Vaughan Williams completed the String Quartet No.1 shortly after studying with Ravel and you can certainly hear this influence, though Vaughan Williams’ own voice also shines through.
The song cycle ‘On Wenlock Edge’, comprising settings of A.E. Housman’s poems from ‘A Shropshire Lad’, was completed in 1909 and the composer captures the spirit of Housman’s poems in vital, passionate music.