Grab a pitchfork and prepare for an alternatingly brisk, meditative and lusty morning. Just in time for the harvest, it’s a full playlist of Ralph Vaughan Williams on his birthday. We’ll stroll the fertile fields of Gloucestershire, Norfolk and Sussex, travel back in time to Tudor England, and share the composer’s turmoil – and hope – through two world wars.

Around 9:30, recorder player John Burkhalter, a stalwart of the area’s Early Music scene, will drop by the studio to talk a little but about the 12th Annual Guild for Early Music Festival, which will take place this Sunday at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton. Then we’ll hear Vaughan Williams’ piece for recorder ensemble, “Suite for Pipes,” a seldom heard work, in a recording that is now as rare as hen’s teeth.

Because of Yom Kippur, Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries will be heard on Thursday morning this week, from 5:30 to 11:00. We’ll be pitching hay and pitching woo; some of the music may even as black as pitch (the Symphony No. 4, with the composer conducting). I’ll be on the pitcher’s mound from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We put a little “English” on it, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Vaughan Williams and Foxy engage in a shedding contest