Find Your Own Sea Symphony

 

This one is mine.

I really, really like this performance of Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony. The London Symphony Orchestra sounds like a million bucks and the church acoustic makes the whole affair a grand statement.

That said, I readily acknowledge this particular recording's deficits. The sopranos of the LSO Chorus are not the sweetest sounding. Some find the last movement overlong under Bryden Thomson, but I find it just right for the universal verse of Walt Whitman.

While Brian Rayner Cook isn't going to get anybody's pots to boil, Yvonne Kenny's soprano is simply divine. The two come together most effectively in the final movement.

But if the small foibles of this recording are to your tastes, find your own RVW Symphony no. 1 'Sea' and love it. The world becomes a much better place once you find it.

 

 

A review from 2005

While revisiting Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 1, I realized the work is over-blown, long-winded, rhapsodic and rambling, overly sentimental, and over-romanticized, but by golly if it isn’t gloriously superb because of those labels. His Sea Symphony, on the other hand, is also lyrical, colorful, philosophical, stirring, and if not specifically melodic, certainly thematic in a Mahlerian sort of way. Bryden Thomson leads the London Symphony Orchestra and chorus in a dramatic reading based on a Walt Whitman text, and it is apparent that the orchestra is front and center in this recording, especially the aggressive brass and inclusion of pipe organ.

This 1989 performance is recorded in St. Jude’s-On-The-Hill and is certainly captured naturally, both to good and bad ends. The orchestra is sonically foremost and plays excellently, the soloists are heard over the orchestra well and are good partners with the orchestra, but the choral sound is discerned more as an orchestral texture rather than a different performing body; that is, if I didn’t have a score or the text in front of me, I would have no idea what the chorus was saying. This is a common problem in recordings of this work, especially of the time, but nowadays you can find other performances where the chorus is either miked separately or is heard better. That being said, the chorus sings well and with passion, although I still think the timbre of the women in their upper ranges are not particularly to my liking. On the other hand, I really like soprano soloist Yvonne Kenny’s voice, as it cuts through the orchestra with a bright, vibrant tone with a fast beat; she is certainly the star of the show in many regards. Brian Rayner Cook is particularly good when singing loud and in the middle of his range, but is less than stellar in the quieter passages in his upper range (listen to the end of the first movement); he bears more of the brunt of the work and is generally successful (the dramatically rolled R's are divine!).

This recording stands up on its own based on the sheer thrust of the orchestra and its soloists, but the ambiguity of the chorus is a tough sell at this price. Since this recording came out, a glut of digital recordings have been released to compare to: Robert Spano, Andrew Davis, the late Richard Hickox also on Chandos, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn with the same orchestra, and Paul Daniel on Naxos, or go back to Sir Adrian Boult who often premiered works with Vaughan Williams himself and is usually closest to performing to the composer's intent. Bryden Thomson's recording comes recommended, but compare with others in the marketplace.

 

 

 

Work
Symphony 1 'A Sea Symphony'
    I. A Song for all Seas (20.03)
   II. On the Beach at Night (10.06)
  III. Scherzo (8.03)
  IV. The Explorers (27.32)

Soloists
Yvonne Kenny, soprano
Brian Rayner Cook, baritone

Performers
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Bryden Thomson, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 1989
Total Timing: 66.03

 

 

 

 

I have always loved this music and its words. I cherish its over-portentousness and unashamed grandiosity.

Maybe it isn't yours, but Bryden Thomson's is my favorite A Sea Symphony from Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Rather than recap the above, I suggest finding your own recording to love of this work. It is time well spent.