The Fourth Symphony is one of Vaughan Williams’ most dissonant symphonies, and yet one of his most frequently-performed works. Vaughan Williams is normally thought of as a ‘pastoral’ composer – modal, melodic, and inspired by folk-song – but this symphony marks a high-point for British modernism. William Walton, at that time having troubles completing his own symphony and having been to the rehearsals of Vaughan Williams’s 4th, reported glumly to a friend, ‘You are about to hear the greatest symphony since Beethoven’. In contrast Flos Campi conjures delicate pastoral images with wonderfully atmospheric music ranging from a first section, depicting the poet languishing for love, to life-affirming ecstasy in the finale.