BBC Concert Orchestra: Holst, Butterworth, Harrison, Williams at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Gustav Holst: A Somerset Rhapsody, Op.21/2; George Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad; Julius Harrison: Worcestershire Suite; Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.3 (Pastoral).

\nThe guns of World War One started firing in August 1914, and British composers, alongside their countrymen, got swept up in the patriotic call to arms and enlisted. Harrison joined the Royal Flying Corps. Vaughan Williams became a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Holst tried but was rejected for being medically unfit. Many died in combat, their lives tragically cut short. Butterworth was shot through the head by a sniper. You can hear music by all these composers at this performance. The effects of the war saw drastic political, cultural, and social change across Europe. In English music there was a return to the nostalgic styles of the past, sweeping melodies depicting pastoral idylls and heartfelt homages to those who gave their life for their country.