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This month, Donald Macleod takes a new look at one of Britain’s best loved composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season - marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Over the course of four weeks and twenty programmes, Donald will be delving into Vaughan Williams' life story and work in intriguing detail, and he’ll also be talking to some of the leading authorities on Vaughan Williams to share and explore fresh perspectives on a variety of overlooked and less well known aspects of his life and work, forming a comprehensive and absorbing portrait of a composer whose body of work has had such an enduring impact on British cultural life.

In this, the final week of Composer of the Week’s landmark series, Donald will focus primarily on the years 1948-1958, the final decade of Vaughan Williams’ life. The composer was, by this point recognised as the Grand Old Man of English music, and for a younger generation of British composers had begun to represent the establishment. He was also beginning to feel his age, but was still managing to surprise critics with some of his new works, and he showed little sign of slowing down, continuing to lead a busy life, and launching into new endeavours too: foreign travels which included a major tour of the US, a major house move, and, following the death of Adeline, a second marriage. Donald will also be speaking to Vaughan Williams experts Ceri Owen and Alain Frogley about Adeline Fisher and Ursula Wood, Vaughan Williams two wives, and about Vaughan Williams’ legacy, and the changing reception to his music since his death.

Music Featured:

Symphony no. 6 in E minor - I. Allegro
Prayer to the Father of Heaven
An Oxford Elegy (excerpt)
Concerto Grosso for strings
Pilgrim’s Progress - House Beautiful
Sons of Light - III. The Messengers of Speech
Four Last Songs
3 Impressions – II. The Solent
Songs of Travel
Three Shakespeare Songs
Romance in D flat for harmonica & strings
Old Hundredth
Silence and Music
Symphony 7 ‘Sinfonia Antartica’ - III. Landscape - Lento
Turtle dove; Dark-Eyed Sailor; John Dory
Symphony no 8 in D minor - II. Scherzo alla marcia; III. Cavatina
Vision of Aeroplanes
Symphony no. 9 in E minor - IV. Andante tranquillo
Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes
Symphony no. 9 - II. Andante Sostenuto
The Lover’s Ghost
Suite from 49th Parallel (excerpt)
Nocturne: Whispers of Heavenly Death
A London Symphony (1913 version) – IV. Finale (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod
Producer Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page /programmes/m0016rjd

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z