This music reminds me of being a child in England on a warm summers day.Playing in a field, laying on my back looking up at a beautiful blue sky and the birds flying overhead. It also reminds me of a simpler time in the 50s being young with my whole life ahead of me, and the people who I loved who are now gone.

We had this at my mother's funeral at her request She was 92 when she died and one old school friend aged 93 was able to come - she appreciated my mother's choice of music.

I can't listen to this piece without crying with joy.... puts me in a special place

The Lark Ascending was beautiful. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is also amazing... Thomas Tallis was an English Renaissance composer btw

I have listened and loved this piece for over 50 years because how it reflects the English landscape but when you said that “it sets you free” that hit home with such intensity and clarity it’s given me a much more deeper and profound love of this piece - thank-you

I don’t care if it overplayed or ppl poo poo it. It’s beautiful, full of yearning and joy, and I love it.

Along with this and his 3rd and 5th symphonies he has the reputation of writing soft English pastoral music, and he is certainly a master of it. However he is capable of much more. His fourth symphony is one of the angriest you will hear. My favourite is probably his 7th symphony, the Antarctic, which is made up of music written for his movie soundtrack to Scott of the Antarctic which is so full of colour and atmosphere of glistening ice, glaciers, penguins and wild weather. He's a fascinating and often underrated composer despite the Lark Ascending always winning the favourite piece of British classical music. I have a theory most voters don't know many other British pieces and vote for the very few they know. It is a lovely piece though.

Great reaction. His name is pronounced "Rafe Vawn Williams". Check out great works by him such as The Pilgrims Progress and his Symphonies, especially the 2nd, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

This is probably Vaughan-Williams' most popular work, along with his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, which I would also recommend. ('Vaughan' pronounced 'Vorn' BTW 😇)

This is a piece that describes pastoral England. I am immediately on a wind swept hill, with the sun shining and wind blowing and the beauty of the English countryside surrounding me. It is a piece I listen to periodically, but first discovered at school some fifty plus years ago as I struggled to play the cello. Hauntingly beautiful and evocative, plus wonderful violin playing. Thank you.

I love seeing young people discovering the magic of classical music. One suggestion for yourself. When finding the selection you’ve chosen, try to find a live performance by some of the greatest symphony orchestras in the world are all over KZfaq. I think you’ll find it so much more interesting while listening as I do and also when I attend a performance.

Yas! Finally! Been waiting for Lark Ascending! We are on a roll with pieces that make me cry ☺

You have come a long way. I remember recommending this a year ago. You are right in thinking this to be a special piece. Although I consider the music of the baroque and classical eras to be superior, there is something spiritual, mystical, pastoral and somber about the music of the English namely that of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten. Other pieces that you should consider are prelude to the afternoon of a faun by Debussy (French), and Fantasia on a Theme.

Well, I'm gonna get a little personal with this one: I'm very much an English music fanatic and I love Vaughan Williams, but this piece never really seemed to work for me. Most likely due to the fact it's a bit overplayed and has led to the stereotype of all British classical music as "countryside music". I always used to think it was missing a little something, perhaps a bit more drama in the middle section to really pack more of a punch. Then last summer after spending time with one of my best friends, we listened to this as we drove in the English countryside and suddenly everything clicked. It was like I was hearing The Lark for the first time. This really is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written.

Mate thank u so much bc of u I found this masterpiece ✨🤍

One of THE pieces for Violin..! Unreal!!! 💙💙💙💙💙🦩✨✨✨✨✨

This brings back wonderful memories of Summer, as a boy and walking in the fields or along the riverbank and hearing a Skylark rising into the air and singing beautifully. It is quintessentially English and moves me to tears every time that I hear it. You may also wish to react to another of Vaughan Williams' pieces called "I Preludio: Moderato", Symphony No. 5. Yet another marvellous English countryside soundscape.

I've always imagined myself wandering through endless hilly grasslands when hearing this. It really evokes a magical feeling in me, like a nostalgia for something that never has happened, the good old Fernweh too. I just wanna take a hike somewhere where it's beautiful and I'm alone.

I just loved watching you listen to this piece. You went from casually listening to becoming totally enraptured. I saw your body relax, your eyes close, and a smile of pure bliss come across your face. It affects me the same way and I often play it when I want to de-stress. I first heard it while listening to a local classical radio program with my mom when I was a teenager. She was a violinist and absolutely fell in love with it so I bought her the sheet music as a birthday gift one year. Although my mom was a very accomplished player this was somewhat beyond her, but I think she still enjoyed working on it. It is very technically challenging. My mom died many years ago but whenever I hear this piece I think of her. The Lark Ascending is on of the best solo violin with orchestra pieces I have ever heard. I am so glad you liked it, too.

This is a really polarizing piece among classical listeners... it's beautiful, but a lot of classical listeners roll their eyes when it wins Classic FM's poll of favorite pieces year after year after year because of its popularity among more casual listeners. I know a number of people who haven't given the rest of Vaughan Williams a chance because they're annoyed by Lark Ascending being overplayed. That said, other Vaughan Williams pieces well worth listening to: Songs of Travel, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1), Symphony No. 5, Sinfonia Antartica (Symphony No. 7), Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus, Oboe Concerto, Tuba Concerto. (Fun fact: Vaughan Williams was the first composer ever to write a tuba concerto, in 1954!)

This is one of my very favorite classical works - it absolutely transports you - food for the soul.

Such an enchanting and beautiful piece this is

Do you want to hear something that makes this piece more incredible? Ralph Vaughan Williams was already deaf when he composed it.

So you just heard one of the most beautiful pieces ever written. I'd say it's tied with Thomas Tallis' Spem In Alium...which you also need to check out.

Try his oboe concerto in A minor (Turku Philharmonic Orchestra or video with score), also symphony no 3 and also Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus". Check it out, hope you like it!

If I could recommend you anything, it would be Franz Schreker‘s Prelude to a drama. There isn’t a lot of video performances of it on KZfaq, the best one probably is with the American youth orchestra: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p7ySYLqLu6jahYU.html Love your vids!

Little like chinese music sounds to me... It's nice music.

It was a mistake, and missed opportunity, to chose this somewhat mundane performance of "The Lark Ascending" when there are many on YT that are so much better. The best of them, utterly devoid of sentimentality, radiant with visionary, transcendent beauty, and given in a state of grace, is the live performance that Chloe Chua gave with Resound Collective in 2021. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y7ajrK6IzdTDoKc.html I am not suggesting you react to it, but for your personal development you should check it out. It is so instructive in so many ways and it is about time you witnessed Chloe on stage!

I think this is perhaps his least interesting works, try his Symphony No.5.