Toward the Unknown Region

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed "Toward the Unknown Region" as a work for chorus and orchestra based on "Darest Thou Now, O Soul," a work by the American poet, Walt Whitman (1819-1892). For Robert Anello, Vaughan Williams has composed a reflection on the possibilities of afterlife that musically conveys Whitman's words without even needing to know that "Toward the Unknown Region" was initially written to be sung by a chorus. It begins tentatively, on occasion seeming almost to start over, but soon begins to grow and overlap itself. About halfway through, the music ascends to a plateau, and conveys the ideas that one has traversed that plateau and sees ahead sunrise over a verdant valley lush with roses and other flowers. The ending conveys ecstasy and contentment at the wondrous discovery. Anello captures the emotion of this choral work in an arrangement for concert band.