Presents
Ralph Vaughan Williams
String Quartet No.1 in g minor
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) is one of England's most important 20th century composers. He was born in the small village of Down Ampney in Gloucestershire and was educated at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. Subsequently he studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and Ravel in Paris. Vaughan Williams was able to establish his own distinctive voice early on and although this quartet clearly shows the influence of Ravel with whom he studied as well as some other French Impressionists, nonetheless, it is clearly recognizable as coming from him.
He was in many ways a late bloomer as evidenced by the fact that most of his popular and successful compositions came after his 50th birthday. Moreover, as late as 1908, when he was 36 years old, despite having studied with Stanford and Bruch, he found it necessary to return to the study of compositon and traveled to Paris to take lessons from Maurice Ravel, after which he produced his first string quartet, the String Quartet in g minor. Not surprisingly, the work shows the strong influence of Ravel as well as certain other French Impressionists. For example, the first movement, Allegro moderato, seems closer to the style of Debussy than Ravel. The music is mostly subdued by filled with lyrical themes. The second movement, Tempo di Menuetto, is a mix of Vaughn Williams' Englishness with some strains of Ravel. Next comes a Romance, andante sostenuto. Again, we hear the mixture of the two styles. The surprising middle section is quite intense and passionate. The finale, Rondo capriccio--Allegro molto, has the most which is typical of Vaughn Williams with its buoyant folk-like tunes, although here and there, the influence of French Impressionism can be heard.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $33.95
