On 24 January Raphaël Merlin directed the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence from the cello in the French premiere of Dark Pastoral, David Matthews’ realisation of Vaughan Williams’ unfinished cello concerto.

Like Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.3Dark Pastoral evokes an elegiac landscape. For the 11-minute piece Matthews orchestrated four minutes of Vaughan Williams’ surviving short score, which ends just as the music begins to tread a new path. Matthews based the rest on this first section, as well as creating new material for the middle, whose mood is increasingly tumultuous and searching, before finally subsiding in a resigned coda.

It received performances in November 2023 from Nicolas Altstaedt, who led the Finnish premiere of the work from the cello with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, as well as presenting it with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze. It has also been performed by BBC New Generation Artist Santiago Cañón-Valencia with the Ulster Orchestra and Jac van Steen. Dark Pastoral was recorded by Dai Miyata and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 2019, with Thomas Dausgaard conducting; it premiered at the 2010 Proms from the BBC Concert Orchestra, Paul Daniel and Steven Isserlis, who also premiered Matthews’ Concerto in Azzurro in 2002.

Dark Pastoral is among several works underlining Matthews’ connection to Vaughan Williams. These include 2016’s Norfolk March for orchestra, a reconstruction of the lost Third Norfolk Rhapsody (1906) by Vaughan Williams. Its treatment of four folksongs follows the style of the composer (as well as Percy Grainger), but, in acknowledgement of the World War One centenary, takes a darker and more melancholy turn in Matthews’ hands. In 2022 Matthews orchestrated Vaughan Williams’ 1923 violin and piano work Romance and Pastorale for solo violin and small orchestra, using the same forces as The Lark Ascending – it received its first performance from Britten Sinfonia and Alexander Sitkovetsky at Charterhouse School.