Our second Prom (with much loved Conductor Laureate, Tadaaki Otaka) was a celebration of British music and included one of my favourite works for string orchestra - Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
I've always loved playing the big symphonic works, so it is perhaps strange that this work should feature in my Top Ten Favourite Works Ever list. My preference is generally for anything with a massive, over the top brass section, soaring, melodramatic string writing, manic wind parts, and not forgetting hell-fire and brim-stone percussion.
By contrast, the Fantasia frequently makes an appearance on those dreadful 'Relaxing Classics' albums that you find in bargain bins at petrol stations and supermarkets - a fate I feel to be not only unfair, but also utterly unjustified.
Composed for solo quartet, large string orchestra and small string ensemble, the music starts with a feeling of suspended animation. As the violins hold their first long shimmering chords, the violas and cellos embark upon a meandering motif that explores the light and shade of the work's key, before the second violins join the violas to make the first statement of the melody Vaughan Williams borrowed form Thomas Tallis.
The first time the small ensemble is heard alone, is quite a shock after the fullness of the rich, full string orchestra. By contrasting the solo quartet, the small ensemble and the large string orchestra, Vaughan Williams instantly created three different perspectives for his listener - the intimate quartet sound, the immediacy and richness of the string body, and the distant memory or echo of the small ensemble. The effect is delicious!
The climactic passage of the work, with all of its undulating triplet passages, rising and falling lines, with melodic line upon melodic line intertwined around each other in the upper strings while the lower strings sound like an organ, is incredible and should never, ever be found on a Relaxing Classics album. This work may have its beautiful, relaxing moments, but it also passes through moments of real darkness and uncertainty, of great pathos and turbulence.
For me, this work reminds me of lying under the big trees of Portglenone Forest as a child on a family outing. It was summer and although the weather was hot, it was breezy too. The clouds zipped across the sky and their shadows whizzed across the forest floor, mingling with the shadows of the trees, and everything smelt of pine needles and summer. I guess that is the beauty of a Fantasia - it can carry your imagination anywhere.
The Royal Albert Hall is a beautiful venue in which to perform this work. The small string group were secreted up in the gods of the auditorium, so their first entrance was not just magical, but also quite theatrical. It has been very satisfying to read the good reviews that we received for our performance of this work, and you can catch our performance on BBC iPlayer!
Catch up with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales' performance at the Royal Albert Hall on BBC iPlayer.
