Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony

Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Dates:  

Thursday 22 Sept 2016, 8pm
Saturday 24 Sept 2016, 2pm

Venue: 

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

 

Program:

1. Richard Wagner - 'Siegfried's Rhine Journey' from the opera Götterdämmerung

2. Carl Vine - Wonders (world premiere) 

3. Ralph Vaughan Williams - A Sea Symphony, 

The Four Movements: 

       I.     A Song for All Seas, All Ships 

      II.   On the Beach at Night Alone 

      III.  Scherzo: The Waves 

      IV.   The Explorers


Artists:

Brett Weymark  Conductor
Penelope Mills  Soprano
Christopher Hillier  Baritone
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Symphony Chorus & Festival Chorus 
Sydney Youth Orchestra


A snippet  of our general rehearsal with Maestro Brett Weymark. Apology for the abrupt end of the recording. 



A pre-concert talk by Carl Vine and English composer Christopher Gordon will be held prior to the performance on Thursday 22nd September 7:15pm-7.45pm. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House Northern Foyer. 

About the Music:

A Sea Symphony is a choral symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written between 1903 and 1909. Vaughan Williams's first and longest symphony, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer conducting. It marked the composer's emergence as one of the most ditinctive musical personalities of the 20th century. The symphony's maturity belies the composer's relative youth when it was written (he was 30 when he first began sketching it). 

                                  Image Credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

 

One of the first symphonies in which a choir is used throughout the work and is an integral part of the musical texture, A Sea Symphony helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in England during the first half of the 20th century. The work is sometimes referred to as the Symphony No. 1. The sound of the sea permeates the entire work from the sailors' sea shanties "Song for all Seas, all Ships", to the tranquillity of "On the beach at night, alone", and the exulting dramatic waves in "The Waves", and the words the choir sings are by the American poet Walt Whitman.

Thirty years earlier Wagner had his hero Siegfried leave his lover Brunnhilde and travel down the Rhine at dawn. Siegfried's particular quest for adventure is depicted by Wagner in a thrilling instrumental interlude which not only describes his journey but also foretells his ultimate doom. 

In this program, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs premiere a choral commission Wonders  by eminent Australian composer Carl Vine. The piece draws inspiration from another poem by Walt Whitman, Wonders in the 1892 edition of Leaves of Grass, originally, Who Learns My Lesson Complete, 1855. 

Our 400-voice choir, Sydney Philharmonia's Symphony Chorus and Festival Chorus, will be joined by acclaimed soprano, Penelope Mills, one of Australia’s finest baritones, Chris Hillier and the talented Sydney Youth Orchestra. Prepare for a thrilling concert event!

Review:

A Sea Symphony (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs). Limelight: Australia's Classical Music and Arts Magazine. Sept. 23, 2016. Accessed September 25, 2016. 

Related Links:

R. Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony.  YouTube, uploaded by Colin, Accessed August 23, 2016. 

Felicity Lott, Jonathan Summers, Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of RVW's "A Sea Symphony". Much of the artwork accompanying the music is contemporary with Walt Whitman (1819-1892), whose verse is set in this work, or with Vaughan Williams himself (1872-1958). Artist whose work appears here: Geoff Hunt (British) and Christopher Blossom (American), Andreas Achenbach, Ivan Aivazovsky, Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Edwin Church, Montague Dawson, Paul Gaugin, Winslow Homer, Frederick Judd-Waugh, Fitz Hugh Lane,
Roy Lang, Edward Moran, Albert Julius Olsson, Edward Henry Potthast, Joseph Mallord, William Turner, Charles Vickery, Langley Walter. 

Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, posted by me, September 26, 2014.  

Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony  - Oramo.  YouTube, uploaded by Classical Vault 1. Accessed September 11, 2014.

Text from A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams by Walt Whitman. snarkdreams.com/brett/poem/seasym.html. Accessed  September 11, 2016.  

(First verse of 1st Movement ...)
"Behold, the sea itself,
And on its limitless, heaving breast, the ships;
See, where their white sails, bellying in the wind, speckle the green and blue,
See, the steamers coming and going, steaming in or out of port,
See, dusky and undulating, the long pennants of smoke."

(Last Verse of 4th Movement ...)
"Sail forth -- steer for the deep waters only,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
O my brave soul!  O farther farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!"
 
(A personal insight and stirring experience: A Sea Symphony moves the soul immensely with its exhilarating climaxes, while gentle moments are tender and intimate.)
 
 

Resources:

1. Wonders: for soprano, baritone, two choirs and orchestra.  Australian Music Centre.

2. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Concert Program.

3. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Website. (May no longer be available after performance) 

 

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