b'He rises and begins to round,And ever winging up and up, He drops the silver chain of sound,Our valley is his golden cup Of many links without a break,And he the wine which overflows In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.to lift us with him as he goes. For singing till his heaven fills,Till lost on his aerial rings Tis love of earth that he instils,In light, and then the fancy sings.Vaughan Williamss orchestral romance offers an impressionistic image of the larks song and the countryside. He completed an early version of the piece in 1914 (for violin and piano) for violinist Marie Hall. The orchestral version premiered in London at a Queens Hall concert in June, 1921. The work opens with a calm set of sustained chords from the strings and winds. The violin enters as the lark, with a series of ascending, repeated intervals and nimble, then elongated arpeggios. These rise into the first theme, and the orchestra quietly enters to accompany the solo in the development of this somewhat introspective, folk-like motif. The solo cadenza is reprised, then the second theme, a folk dance is introduced. At one point the soloist pauses in a trill while the orchestra responds with a series of bird-like calls. Then the violin soars in cadenzas over the orchestra, an effect seen by some as representing the lark flying over the countryside. Another solo lark episode leads to the reprise of the original theme, finally stated by the full strings. The work comes to a quiet close, with the soloist returning to the original ascending, repeated intervals as the larks song. (Barbara Heninger for the Redwood Symphony Orchestra)buskaid.org.za/ 13'