{"id":25849,"date":"2023-03-23T20:57:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T19:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=182219"},"modified":"2023-03-23T21:33:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T20:33:44","slug":"the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lark Ascending: brand new skylark recordings project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Endorsed by violinist Tasmin Little, ‘Larks Ascending’ will create\u00a0a new public archive of skylark recordings – and will examine how location, weather and season cause many subtle variations <\/p>

By Steve Wright\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 23 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

To round off its celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams<\/strong><\/a>, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society has announced an intriguing new project. The Society has joined forces with the Wildlife Sound Recording Society<\/strong><\/a> (WSRS) and the British Library\u2019s Wildlife and Environmental Sounds<\/strong><\/a> collection to gather examples of the song of the skylark \u2013 the bird whose exuberant, melodious singing inspired the composer\u2019s much-loved piece The Lark Ascending<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project, named Larks Ascending<\/em>, will create\u00a0a new archive of skylark recordings at the British Library. These will be available to researchers, musicians and the public.<\/p>\n

Classical music inspired by nature: six of the best<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The project is supported by violinist Tasmin Little, who recorded one of our very favourite performances of The Lark Ascending<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\u2018I am delighted to be associated with the Larks Ascending <\/em>project, which will be an invaluable resource to capture the beauty, diversity and subtlety of this bird song,\u2019 said Tasmin. \u2018As someone who has experienced the joy of performing Vaughan Williams\u2019 famous piece, The Lark Ascending<\/em>, and its deep effects upon audiences, I hope that this brand new archive will be a way to inspire the creation of new compositions to complement the existing repertoire.\u2019<\/p>\n<ul><li><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/hear-vaughan-williams-lark-ascending-as-it-was-originally-writtenf-or-piano-and-violin-duo\/"\">Hear Vaughan Williams\u2019 Lark Ascending<\/em> as it was originally written: for piano and violin duo<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nLarks Ascending<\/em> aims to reflect in detail the rich variety in skylark songs, despite their apparent overall similarity. The project will examine how each individual song might relate to factors such as location, weather and time of year.<\/p>\nIt is hoped that composers will be inspired by the Larks Ascending <\/em>archive to follow Vaughan Williams\u2019s example and write music which showcases this iconic bird \u2014 using these new recordings in a variety of creative ways.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/wildlife\/birds\/where-to-see-skylarks\/"\">Where to see and hear skylarks (Countryfile<\/em> magazine)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe project also aims to raise awareness of the dramatic decline in skylark numbers. It\u2019s estimated that UK skylark numbers have dropped by around 70% over the past 50 years, largely because of modern farming practices.<\/p>\n\u2018The project\u2019s focus on this much-loved bird and its ever-exuberant song will hopefully widen appreciation of how real are the continuing threats to bird and animal life in the British countryside,\u2019 explains Andrew Green of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/classical-music-inspired-by-nature-weather-thunderstorms-and-wind\/"\">Classical music inspired by nature, weather, thunderstorms and wind<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe new skylark recordings will be made through the spring and summer. Anyone with good sound recording skills is invited to add their own contributions to those of WSRS members.<\/p>\nFull details are available via the RVW Society (<a href=\""mailto:gardengreen333@yahoo.co.uk"\">gardengreen333@yahoo.co.uk<\/a><\/strong>) or the WSRS (<a href=\""mailto:secretary@wildlife-sound.org"\">secretary@wildlife-sound.org<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/guarneri-baltic-violin-auctions-for-9-44-million\/"\">Guarneri \u2018Baltic\u2019 violin auctions for $9.44 million<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/westminster-abbey-st-margarets-church-to-welcome-girl-choristers\/"\">Westminster Abbey: St Margaret\u2019s Church to welcome girl choristers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/2023-siemens-halle-international-conductors-competition-winner-announced\/"\">2023 Siemens Hall\u00e9 International Conductors Competition: winner announced<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/universal-music-group-acquires-hyperion\/"\">Universal Music Group acquires Hyperion<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/stephen-layton-announces-departure-from-trinity-college-cambridge\/"\">Stephen Layton announces departure from Trinity College Cambridge<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Endorsed by violinist Tasmin Little, ‘Larks Ascending’ will create\u00a0a new public archive of skylark recordings – and will examine how location, weather and season cause many subtle variations <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25850,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project.png",1120,746,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project-1024x682.png",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project.png",1120,746,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/the-lark-ascending-brand-new-skylark-recordings-project.png",1120,746,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Endorsed by violinist Tasmin Little, 'Larks Ascending' will create\u00a0a new public archive of skylark recordings - and will examine how location, weather and season cause many subtle variations","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}