Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- John Wilson conducts the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Vaughan Williams’s rhapsodic masterpiece is well suited to socially-distanced performance - he divides his forces into two mini-orchestras and a string quartet, and asks for them to be placed as far apart as possible, to weave a web of luminous sound around the listener.
This piece was filmed as part of the Philharmonia Sessions, a series of new online performances during the Covid-19 pandemic. Take the best seat in your house to enjoy specially created performances of some of the most uplifting classical music.
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Promoted in partnership with Classic FM.
I've been searching for this version for years! Finally ! It's full of depth, movement, color, mystery and revelation. Absolutely thrilling. When I first heard this on the radio 4 years ago, all I knew was the name of the piece. Since then I've searched so many other performers and orchestras but never got the same breathless thrill ride provided by this one. Thank you for the rise and fall of intensity. I have to remember to breathe.
Thank you for such wonderful feedback on our performance.
I have never been so moved highs lows, my words would never describe the feelings this magnificent beautiful music has had on me.speachless.thank you so much.
I too had to remember to breath.
Cheri, whilst I love this rendition, I urge you to seek out the BBC Philharmonic live performance of this piece, conductor Andrew Marriner, it’s equally enthralling, and recorded in Gloucester Cathedral, where RVW himself conducted the first ever performance of his masterpiece, they even set the strings up in precisely the same configuration Vaughan Williams intended, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed 🙏🏻🌹
ruclips.net/video/ihx5LCF1yJY/видео.html
Apologies it’s the London Symphony Orchestra, but a BBC production, I hope you enjoy Cheri
My dad died of cancer a little earlier today, whilst unconscious on the morphine as he slipped away I played this songs as it was his favourite RIP Dad xxx
So very sorry for your loss ❤️
@@philharmonia_orchestra my condolences on the loss of your father, I understand the pain you are going through, it hurts like no other, but he is pain free, and the music is one of my favorites as well, take care.
Sorry. Much love ❤
@@philharmonia_orchestra How wonderfully thoughtful of the philharmonia orchestra to reply to your loss. Wonderful. Sincere condolences to Daniel.
Prayers for your father’s soul!
If this not playing at my funeral I am not going.
Now that is funny
In all seriousness I'm considering having this played at my funeral Mass.
so stay alive...and watch and listen while you can...because you can rest assured that your survivors only care a quarter of what you really care about
i know
Whoever was the recording engineer was genius...well done
Thank you - we'll pass that on! His name is Myles Eastwood of Eastwood Records
2nd that!
Agreed! The recording AND THE MIXING are on a par with the BBC recording found elsewhere. Given the different acoustics of the spaces, this comes-over a little more immediate and 'present'. Wonderful work by all concerned.
It is always really challenging for this piece!
Great call Dave.
Thirty years ago we were driving across Northern Ohio. Late one Summer evening we drove into a powerful thunder storm that shook our car. After an hour or so we emerged from the worst. I searched for a Toledo Classical Station. Imagine the peace and calm that filled the car as this glorious piece began And I introduced my wife to RVW and the Tallis. Thank GOD for great music.
No, thank Vaughan Williams
I think Vaughan Williams imbued his deep love for the English countryside into this.
this and A Lark Ascending...
Indeed. Norfolk rhapsodies #1 and #2 also. Actually, which Vaughan - Williams piece isn't about the English landscape?
I sit in my Danish village and am grateful for being allowed to witness this piece of English musical heritage.
We're so glad to hear this is reaching a global audience. We invite you to subscribe to our channel!
@@TroelsNybo-j2t How lovely to hear that ❤️
At last...I'm finally crying for something good in this 2020
I once heard this whilst visiting Winchester Cathedral. An orchestra was rehearsing for a concert that evening . The whole building literally vibrated with this exquisite music. People were standing stock still and some of us were reduced to tears by the beauty of it. I have never experienced anything like it before or since that was quite as profoundly moving. THis version is simply wonderful and comes pretty close to that which I experienced in Winchester.
What a lovely memory. Thank you for sharing. We are thrilled that our performance was moving for you as well.
@@philharmonia_orchestra I should add that this recording is a piece I play often, especially after a stressful day. It brings me joy, so thank you All
Yes
The second "shadow" orchestra idea is from VW's experience as an pipe organist. Many larger pipe organs have a division of pipes located far from the rest of the organ. This division is usually called the "Echo" or "Ethereal" division. The idea is to provide a kind of "Surround sound" effect. The shadow orchestra here is designed to simulate that effect.
The amazing Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys was asked by Jo Whiley what the last song he would like to listen to as he exited the planet.......and this was it...they played a small sample and I just had to look it up. What an incredible, beautiful and emotional piece of music -it's hard to think of a world in 2024 with so much hatred and wickedness produced by man over the planet - that same creature can write such a stunning piece of beauty
Mine would be the last few minutes of Richard Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration". But this Fantasia and Barber's "Adagio for Strings" would be close runners-up.
This is my favorite piece of music. I want it played at my funeral.
At last ive found the most beautiful piece of music ive ever heard im in bits
My wife and I were sitting around the fire pit in our back yard one crisp autumn evening. I asked her if she wanted to hear the most beautiful piece of music ever created. I had my Bose Mini bedside us and I played this while we watched the fire and the stars and snuggled against each other. It was totally magical.
Great comment thank you.
AI will never be able to replicate original music like this, ever. It is simply human genius by so many artists, and only organic beings could be moved to tears and chills by it's beauty, and even we do not know why !!
On that "note" I just watched these. If you havent seen them I highly recommend you do.
Seductive AI has no rules. It will change your life (or end it).
ruclips.net/video/lgwrRn1uHkg/видео.html
No, this angry AI isn't fake (see comment), w Elon Musk.
ruclips.net/video/Fbc1Xeif0pY/видео.html
PARIS NOW UNDER BLOCKADE! (Massive Stand Off - 15,000 Police & Armoured Vehicles!!!)ruclips.net/video/X1bua7r6JSs/видео.html. (Media misleads, are you aware of this going on in nation after nation in E.U. I was not)
I completely agree! And I believe God inspires music like this!
Vaughan Williams' melodies have a special appeal to the Japanese hearts
Vaughan Williams' melodies have a unique nostalgic feel that touches the hearts of Japanese people
There is something extraordinary in this performance
From
Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵
日本人だけじゃないけど。小島さんの気持ちは普遍的です。
There is a warmth of the soul feeling to all of Ralph Vaughan Williams music that translates into every person & language. I don't know how to explain it, but pure warm love I guess is best.
Atatakai Negai 👍❤️🙂🙏
@@AruthaGiannis I feel the same way about this piece -- my heart is so excited when I hear it and am just transfor
med by the movement of it!!
Fifths, fifths everywhere!!
Japanese people seem to appreciate and value Western culture and history more than our own people at this point.
one of those pieces that you can describe as "magical". thanks to Master and Commander for letting me appreciate this!
SWIM WILL!!!!!!!
I know!!! I knew this piece by name, but I had never heard it except for that scene. Only after many years had passed did I join the dots. Vaughan Williams has always been a favourite of mine.
@@badgerattoadhall RIP Will
Driving late last night this came on classic fm… I could not recall the OST for the life of me!
Heard this on classic fm in 2000. Have loved it ever since. It was first performed in Gloucester Cathedral 1918 by Vaughan Williams
Master and Commander is not only one of the best movies made in the 21st century, it also introduced many to so many wonderful classical pieces such as this!
My Mum saw this piece being performed by the London Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras together in the 70's. She said her soul jumped out of her body to rejoice with the Angels. How wonderful that music created by every culture on the planet since our species arrived is so inspired believing in the divine. We just need yo start listening properly. This piece is a good place to start.
Master and Commander played this twice. That was first time I heard this. Bravo!
As a chorister in an Anglican cathedral choir I remember singing the choral version of the theme(many years ago) and listening raptly to the orchestral work with my best friend, also a Vaughan Williams fan. Surely the music of heaven.😊
Williams is one of the best things the UK has given to the world.
Playing of the highest order. And recording of the highest order!
Utterly sublime. The faces of the performers speak a thousand words. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself crying.
Vaughan Williams has that effect on me too
Crying under the sheets while I had strong chemotherapy, the only music that I could endure.
It's a very moving piece of music.
Quite so. It is my favorite composition by Vaughn Williams and midway through I unexpectedly feel the tears running down my face. A sad but hopeful piece for a less than hopeful time.
I can only be happy at these comments, because tears are also rolling down my cheeks.
Thomas Tallis and Vaughn Williams are surely hearing this with a smile on their faces. Thank You.
There’s a profound joy and a profound melancholy to this ……it’s incredible
Yes, both simultaneously. It is extraordinary
The Philharmonia have been close to me for over 50 years. I heard them as a boy, and still to this day (alas the pandemic) they are greatly loved by me.... I actually saw Klemperer conduct them. That is how old I am. Thank you for this utterly beautiful rendering, cheering us up in sad times.
So easy to cry to this!
Klemeperer? Fortunate Guy!.
Yes, after 70 years, I've heard the solo viola. Excellent.
👏👏👏👏
And what a wonderful violist Yukiko Ogura is ❤
I first heard this piece when I performed in a Passion Play aged 17, nearly 60 years ago. The director was so talented and used Vaughan Williams for any scenes displaying the tragedy of Christ’s passion. For decades I could not identify the music, but years later I finally did and felt as if I had come home. It brings tears to my eyes every time and this version is outstanding. So proud to be a Brit.
If there were no works of Vaughan Williams ,
I would feel that the music world is like the taste of stale beer ,
and the English music world would have been very lonely .
I'm just intoxicated with Vaughan Williams' inspirational and specutacular works and breathtaking performers such as these performers with exquisite skill and magnificent technique
From
Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵
As someone put it "we are an interesting species, an interesting mix, capable of wonderous dreams and such horrible nightmares" all of this and more, to be human.
Not even 3 minutes in and I'm in tears. Not in any particular mood, not depressed, not high, just chilling on the couch. Absolutely stunned by not only the beauty of this piece, but how it can elicit tears so quickly, without it being tied to anything (like a death in a movie or something)
I always find that John Wilson gets full emotional commitment from his players, whether it be serious as in this music, or joyful in American musicals.
The tempo is perfect, no overwhelmed with to many instruments, this is the best rendition I have heard!
Fantasia on Theme and many other Vaughan Williams works reminds of of the English countryside nature and heritage
Perfect audio, crisp chamber.
thank you Philarmonia!
Transcendently beautiful.
Thank you.
What a glorious sound they produce,in one of my favourite pieces by vaughan williams,listening on headphones its heavenly.
I love this piece and have it in my mind to visit the top of Glastonbury Tor one day or a peak in the Lakes and blast this out in all its magnificence and listen to it how I think it truly should be enjoyed outdoors..
I'm in awe of these (I call them Geniuses) wonderful people. Without them, the world of Classical Music would be terribly empty! I've been a drummer since 1967 and I've played many styles of music. But as good as that was, Nothing can compare to the beauty and majesty inherent in music like this. God Bless ALL of you beautiful people for enriching my life and bringing me peace. I'm so grateful for discovering the Philharmonia Orchestra!
I also am a lifelong lover of great music like this, RVW is probably my greatest MUSICAL HERO.
He comes from the West of England close to where I was born.
His music is beyond divine it is indescribable but he composed it for us mere mortals.
Did you know that RVW was a confirmed ATHEIST, like me.
Early in his career the publishers of the Hymn Book of the Anglican Church offered him a contract to revise and modernize the music.
RVW turned them down, the contract was then offered to another composer who RVW considered to be less than competent.
He contacted the publishers and offered to do the work for no money, adding this comment, IF A MAN FINDS THAT HE MUST GO TO CHURCH, THEN HE SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE SOME GOOD MUSIC TO LISTEN TO.
This is why many of the hymns in “Hymns Ancient and Modern” are sung to the music of an ATHEIST.
Thank god for RVW and his MAGNIFICENT MUSIC.
Highest class, hundred percent world class performance.
God, this piece is devastating. Bravo!
The best can I get this on cd. FR
A documentary about the SS Atlantic brought me here, and I don't regret a single moment of it. What an amazingly powerful piece of music, able to convey hope, dread, sorrow, and nostalgia all in one. 10/10, magnificently done.
Thank you!
This is the most wonderful and moving rendition of this piece I've ever heard. Bravo!! Bravo, all of you! Bravo! I was moved to tears.
Dziękuję Ci Panie BOŻE, że Pan Ralph Vaughan Williams posłuchał głosu powołania i stworzył wspaniałe kompozycje na skrzypce . Jest w nich tyle spokoju , dobra, delikatności, przepięknych obrazów natury. Ta muzyka porusza, wycisza złe emocje, Dziękuję!! Dziękuję !!
Easiest comment I've ever written - Pure magic!
The Greenery of Englands landscape and pastures depicted through music. (As I visualise it)
Thomas Tallis is most certainly one of the great composers - Imagine he lived during the reign of Elisabet I. - died in 1585
I guess it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this work the most profound music ever written. The combination of Tallis and RVW created something quite extraordinary. Thanks for the upload wonderful Philharmonia orchestra!
No, I agree! I cry every time I hear this! Especially now in the time of Covid! 12/8/2020. Oh GOD, Have mercy on us all.
Blessings everyone!
No it Wouldn't be.
No exaggeration. 💯 percent perfection.
Absolutely the most moving piece I’ve ever heard . Makes me cry . Makes me feel something I can’t explain .
When I hear this I am observing in my minds' eye the soldiers of WW1 & 11 in the trenches, the reconnaissance along enemy lines and the subsequent battle, almost in slow motion. The final victory, and the sunrise of a new day. Then the return home of those still living, and the haunting memory of those lost. It stirs such emotion in my heart - my favourite piece of classical music.
I have been listening to this piece almost daily for many months. It helps me get through the pandemic. I just found this recording today. I love the clarity of it - it is really easy to hear each part. The middle voices come through really well. Thank you, Philharmonia!
Thanks for watching!
World class. I went to their concert at Hereford Cathedral a couple of years back where they performed this piece. Wonderful to hear it live.
Hopefully we'll be able to return to Three Choirs Festival soon!
15:58 That look of determination gets me every time. This was a stunning performance from all concerned. 😃
the sound of my soul being ripped to shreds ...
not since Sir Neville - an artistic and technical tour de force
standing ovation with tears in eyes.
such a lovely piece. like a tonal poem. i can imagine williams on his back under the trees in the country side, observing clouds floating through the sky
I think this is the best recording of this piece that I've heard. And, to try to sum it up in words, that's because it is the first recording I've heard which does not try to cram the component parts of this piece into phrased sections. The tempi are quite distinct over even a few bars: as is the mood of those bars. For instance, at 5.45-5.55 and 6.05-6.15 these two small 'pools.of darkness' are given the proper space to breath and be; so often they are given too little space as they are phrased into the larger section. John Williams and the players have realised that the piece is, already, structured brilliantly throughout and that these sections have already been written within the whole piece. This is really respecting the work: and it shows. This really is glorious, heartfelt, playing.
Thanks so much for your great feedback!
Insanely gorgeous and committed playing - just wow!
Incredible to think that Williams elaborated on a piece written hundreds of years earlier by Tallis. Such talented composers, and such a beautiful rendition of this piece ❤️
indeed
"The peace of God that surpasses all understanding..."
This is soul food. Everyone of these artists involved are masters of music, and emotion.
Finally! The first visual performance of this piece that I’ve seen that makes sense. Very well done with the limited number of cameras. And the amount of music that comes from so few musicians is phenomenal! Thank you everyone for making this piece the way I’ve always envisioned it when I’ve closed my eyes and dreamed.
Thank you for watching, and for you lovely comment!
It's an extraordinarily beautiful work. Pastoral, romantic, melancholic, triumphant. Wonderful performance.
I don’t think there’s a better description than this one. It’s everything you say but I’d never looked at it as triumphant or pastoral but with the romantic and melancholic aspects it makes it possibly the greatest piece of music ever written.
Most beautiful interpretation of this masterpiece on RUclips. Absolutely sublime! I've been listening to it for the last 15 years at least, and yet I still got to be surprised by this version. I'm amazed at how a few musicians sitting apart could sound like a huge string orchestra, but also as intimate as chamber music!
Thank you so much for sharing with us! It felt like clearing skies during those crazy pandemic times.
Vaughn Williams' orchestrations are the best ever. No one can create an atmosphere like him.
Everything about this is just simply sublime. There are times when they sound like a pipe organ. It's amazing. That last beat of the baton, pulling everything inward as the final chord rings out...sigh. I have heard many recordings of the Tallis Fantasia, but this to me is the ultimate.
Thank you so much for listening and your lovely comments.
I visit regularly (almost daily) this masterpiece as a health treatment. It's inspiring, sensitive, so beautiful than words become poor and cannot express the ineffable sensation that produces in the listener. Congratulations to Philarmonia Orchestra for this fine performance and many thanks.
Is there ANYTHING better than to hear a superb performance of this INDESCRIBABLY BEAUTIFUL music.
I am 81 and have been a lover of classical music all my life, sadly I never learned to play an instrument and although I KNOW A LOT OF MUSIC, I know nothing of the technicalities of music.
I am happy to leave that to greater minds than mine but as I listen to this I ask myself, what was going on in that WONDERFUL MIND of RVW as he wrote this.
John Wilson is one of the finest young conductors to ever conduct a symphony, I have watched some of his other performances and was always in awe of his talent. Always a pleasure to watch!
@15:35 I thought the doors of heaven opened. This was the first time I’ve ever heard this piece. Words can’t describe the feeling
I heard it first on the radio. It moved me there and then upon first listen.
For me it's on the violin solo. 12:38
Some music you hear with your ears. This piece however, I hear with my soul and my soul is moved in a way beyond the ability to describe with mere words.
This is my favorite of his compositions❤❤❤
am i ever glad to be still alive !!
This song immediately quieted a crying infant I was carrying about one night in an old home out here in south Texas...heard over KUHF FM, Houston. He listened to the entire song intently. Since that night, he has had an uncanny musical ability to play any instrument. THANK YOU SO MUCH for this version!!!
The chills are still running up and down my spine.
Nice to see the viola getting some play in this!!
The engineering, the playing, the conducting - I turned off Barbirolli’s Sibelius to listen to this and I cannot stop yearning for hope. Thank you for this beauty!
Beautiful interpretation. Its an amazing piece of music which I sometimes play to bring me down from deep stress but equally from melancholy. Its not mournful, its emotional and hits you in the head and the heart. BTW - the acoustics are amazing,
Listen to it again and again...what wonderful sound. Profoundly meaningful for me. Thank you!
The sound quality is excellent..hats off to the sound engineer
Brilliant performance!! The quality of video and sound is also outstanding, thank you Philharmonia Orchestra!
Thank you very much!
Divine, thank you Philarmonia Orchestra!
I know for so long I have not heard anything so beautiful
Chills, every time!
Sublime, revelatory - I can't even believe how shockingly beautiful this is. Like hearing it again for the first time.
It really is something truly magical . Took my breath away .
Stunning, no words can explain.
This is the best recording of this piece I’ve ever heard
This work sings to my inner soul nearly every time I listen to it.
Probably Vaughan Williams's masterpiece. I've only been once to the Royal Albert Hall to a Promenade concert, and one of the pieces was this one. I was standing at the rail, totally entranced. The whole experience was just magical. Thank you for bring this wonderful memory and some joy in these so trialling times. Stunning performance, stunning sound, stunning acoustics - I could close my eyes and almost touch the performers.
absolutely brilliant, unique and valuable recording of this timelessly beautiful piece
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The shadowy crescendo at 15:25 sounds like a pipe organ. Incredible
the finest piece of English music written by An Englishman
reaches you in places you can't admit x
This song reminds me of my motherland, images from mount Pind, the Celtic Olympic mountain, imagining watching in one direction the top of the cathedral of Compostela former Camb Strugh and turning to opposite way and seeing the sea, the beaches and my childhood stone village where I was born Carn Nota. I know that Breogán and his sons the colonizers of Scotland and Ireland and UK was acclaimed king after a duel on that mountain, if only the nature of my motherland where I wish to be buried could tell its histories.
This is beautyfull it makes me happy and sad at the same time it's OK
This is the first piece of classical music I really remember connecting with as a young man. Beautiful version, Philharmonia Orchestra! It takes me back about 40 years... Thank you so much for recording and sharing it. I've made a small donation to your organization. Stay safe and well.
Thank you for listening, and for the donation! Hopefully we'll be back performing live concerts for you soon!
I have been looking for this for years. I found this through a vague reference on another channel.
The best version of the extraordinary Tallis Fantasia that I have ever heard. To be able to see it performed on by these exceptional musicians is a true privilege which I will return to again and again.
Thank you for sharing these lovely comments on our work. We are so happy that this performance continues to move people as much as it moved us.
That literally took my breath away. Just beautiful.
My absolute favourite piece of classical music, bar none. Thank you for such a wonderful performance 🎻
I said the exact same thing today when my best friend/soulmate discovered this outstanding performance! I actually consider it to be “our song” because we discovered it to be an absolute favorite during one of our first serious conversations over a decade ago. I first fell in love with the piece in my 20s and I’m now 61. He’s 72.
Just when arts are coming back, PM Johnson now says for the country to stay home again. God, please help us all.
We will continue to bring our audiences music!
Vaughn Williams is the composer who's writings are the most beautiful in the world.
Master and commander featured this music beautifully!
Thank you, Philharmonia, from New Zealand.