A Portrait of England presented by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra tickets

Vaughan Williams pushed back on literal interpretations of his second symphony, saying it was simply, “a symphony by a Londoner”. The work is more a meditation on a memory than a portrait of a place, allowing the listener to feel the spirit and atmosphere of the city.

The symphony was dedicated to the composer’s close friend George Butterworth, who died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 aged just 31. In his lifetime Butterworth had shared Vaughan Williams’ gift of lyricism, nostalgia, and a wistful evocation of the English landscape in his compositions – such as in his Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad. Acclaimed British baritone and skilled arranger Roderick Williams joins the MSO to perform his own arrangements of the Six Songs, as well as his orchestration of Henry Purcell’s 1692 work, Music for a While. English conductor Andrew Manze returns to the MSO for the first time since 2017.

Perhaps the most cherished Englishman of all, in the eyes of our community, is the late MSO Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis. Our former Chief Conductor (a lifelong devotee to Bach’s organ works) in all his affability and intellect, arranged Bach as only he could – transforming the St Anne Prelude and Fugue into an enormously colourful and nuanced symphonic iteration.