Morality takes to the stage

Henrietta Bredi joins in the preparations for Vaughan Williams’s ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’

‘Come, thou blessed of the Lord’ sing the sopranos and altos, and now the tenors and basses are joining them, with a wondrously layered swelling of sound. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end — this is the first rehearsal and the first music I’ve heard from Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, which will be given two performances at Sadler’s Wells, on 20 and 22 June.

VW, as some people matily refer to him (personally, I wouldn’t dare), died 50 years ago, and celebrations of his life and work are abounding. One of the composer’s most passionate and articulate admirers is Richard Hickox, who is conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in a series of concerts of his music, including a complete cycle of his symphonies, throughout 2008. As a splendidly ambitious step-up from their concert-hall activities, he and the Philharmonia are tackling The Pilgrim’s Progress in a realisation that will put the entire orchestra on stage, plus a 50-strong chorus and 15 soloists.