Vaughan Williams composed the symphony in 1921 as a cathartic response to his experiences during the First World War. In 1914, aged 42, he joined an ambulance brigade and so witnessed the carnage ...

Vaughan Williams served as an ambulance driver during the war and the slow movement of his Symphony No 3, the “Pastoral”, draws on his memories of life in war-torn France.

Inspired by the paradox of beautiful sunsets the composer witnessed over WW I killing fields in northern France, the Symphony #3, the “Pastoral,” by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is ...

Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antartica (No. 7); Toward the Unknown Region (Soloists, London Symphony Orchestra, Bryden Thomson, cond; Chandos, three separate CDs).A Vaughan Williams renaissance may ...

First up was the richly tuneful music of the great symphonist Ralph Vaughan Williams, rooted in the English pastoral tradition and steeped in modal harmonies. Then we heard a world premiere ...

It was eight years since his Symphony No. 4 and, given the many periods of intense orchestral composition in Vaughan Williams's career, many were surprised that his follow-up hadn't come sooner. In ...

Vaughan Williams may also have been too late to capture the fever for Captain Scott, his symphony suffocated by a need in British culture to move on from portraying heroes with comic-book-like ...

The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, born 150 years ago on Oct. 12, is one of those rare artists who are more often loved than deeply known. A few of his pieces—the lush setting of ...