a few thoughts on Ralph Vaughan Williams

[sasha]

Been listening to a lot of Vaughan Williams lately - I've heard him in on NPR for many years, but always unobtrusively in the background - always eliciting a "gee, I rather like that", but never "wow, I like that!"... Pleasant orchestral music in a classical vein, but not archaic & academic, nor overpoweringly sweet - not exactly sugar-free, but not cloying either; melodious, but just unpredictable enough to be interesting, at least to a musical layman. Elevator music with a college degree. Often with a hint of emotional darkness - or maybe a kind of reverential majesty... Exactly the sort of feeling I'm apt to get now walking along an unfamiliar woodland trail. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to it now. It's the sort of music I can write to - providing not just a bland background free of distraction, but a comfortable bed for my thoughts....

[saw]

beautifully expressed....I have to admit i know nothing really of the man's music, but you've convinced me to check it out