THE LARK ASCENDING: Ensemble 360

The violin soars melodiously above the rest of the string quartet in the gorgeous, pared-back arrangement of Vaughan Williams’s most popular work The Lark Ascending, which concludes this Music in the Round concert featuring English music for oboe and strings. Fantasy is a thread – from the Baroque gems of Purcell’s Three-part Fantasias (arranged for string trio) to Imogen Holst’s Phantasy String Quartet and Britten’s Phantasy Quartet, a dazzling early work that sees the oboe in playful, exuberant dialogue with the strings.

Programme:
I HOLST Phantasy String Quartet (10’)
HOWELLS Phantasy String Quartet Op.25 (13’)
BRITTEN Phantasy Quartet Op.2 (13’)
PURCELL (transc. Warlock) Three-part Fantasias 1, 2 & 3 (8’)
BRAY Bluer Than Midnight (11’)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (arr. Gerigk) The Lark Ascending (15’)