Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
Ralph Vaughan Williams is, along with Frederick Delius and George Butterworth, one of my favorite impressionist composers from the UK. This version of one of his most popular pieces, "The Lark Ascending" for violin and orchestra, performed by the "Bristol Cathedral Choir School", sounds remarkably mature, and positively not like amateurish school music. One interesting property of this composition is how the basically pentatonic violin parts are contrasted to the lush symphonic arrangements, which is particularly appealing when the orchestra joins in after the somewhat lengthy introductory solo cadenza.