He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake...
For singing till his heaven fills,
'Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
To lift us with him as he goes...
Till lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings.
The piece starts with the strings introducing a scene of pastoral English grassland, and within a few bars, the violin enters. In this work, Vaughan Williams used pentatonic scales extensively, making it sound very much like an exotic oriental piece, especially of Chinese origin since the violin could imitate the erhu very well indeed, though the tonal quality is considerably different. Slow and expansive, the violin, if played well, could bring the aching beauty of 'lark ascending' evocatively. Although the melody might sound pretty repetitive but when we listen to the piece we hardly could find it so. That is the trap here. If the introduction is played too monotonously it will sound as if someone is practising scales. Yet it cannot be played too fast as well because it will not be able to portray the beauty of it. From the low D, the violin soars higher and higher. The strings provide a very quiet backdrop for the violin to sing. Most of the time, especially in the early part, the solo violin breathes out the tune; while in later part, with a peaceful orchestral backdrop, it is as if the 'lark' has found a clear blue 'sky' to ascend!
The violin plays solo again before the piece changes in mood. The orchestra leads the theme, and the violin comes in later. Both parts exchange roles several times. This part is no less evocative than the introductory part, in fact it resembles the 'fluttering' of the wings, or it seems that the 'lark' begins to dance joyfully - at the piece of music. The joyful part is pretty short, and soon the melody returns to the original serene mood again. We are left with a melancholic touch of mood.
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