Utrecht String Ensemble - Vaughan Williams and Bartók

In its autumn program, the USE presents music by two composers who at first seem to share little in common: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Béla Bartók. Yet these contemporaries are united by their deep fascination with folk music and the cultural history of their homelands.

The concert opens with Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), whose lifelong interest in English Renaissance music inspired several of his works. This particular piece was written in 1910 for the Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester Cathedral. Vaughan Williams based it on a psalm tune by the 16th-century composer Thomas Tallis and scored it for a double string orchestra, an unusual arrangement. The first orchestra often leads, while the second answers from a distance, and the leaders of the first ensemble form a string quartet with an independent solo role. The interplay between the three groups takes full advantage of the cathedral’s vast acoustics, creating an atmosphere both spiritual and timeless.

From England, the program turns to Hungary with the Divertimento by Béla Bartók (1881–1945). Bartók’s lifelong devotion to Hungarian folk music began in 1904 when, during a holiday, he heard a nurse sing traditional songs from Transylvania, his native region. Together with his friend Zoltán Kodály, he traveled through the countryside collecting and transcribing hundreds of folk melodies. Much of Bartók’s later music draws directly on these sources. The Divertimento, composed in 1939 shortly before his flight to the United States, combines this folk inspiration with elements of Baroque style. Though the first and third movements are light and dance-like, the slow middle movement reveals the growing tension and darkness of the approaching Second World War. Written in the form of a concerto grosso, it alternates between soloists and full orchestra, blending rustic vitality with modern harmonies and emotional depth.

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