Sea Shanties

Robert Shaw (Conductor), Robert Shaw Chorale (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Shaw Chorale
• Conductor: Robert Shaw
• Audio CD (August 10, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA / BMG
• ASIN: B00000JPC1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,995 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moments of sublime beauty., November 26, 2003

By 

Howard G Brown "brownswan" (Port St. Lucie, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

Granted, this is stylistically far removed from what fans of shanties expect to hear today. But if I want rough-edged, realism, I'll sing the songs myself -- and often do, while walking the dog (he howls along with me).

This may be akin to Klemperer conducting Bach -- but his recording of the St. Matthew Passion is a classic, and so is this set by Shaw and his chorale.

The arrangements are never less than entertaining, and take full measure of the chorale's prowess. But "Lowlands" and "Shenandoah" are performed with with such attention to vocal lustre along with emotional commitment that they must rank among the finest choral performances available to us. In "Lowlands," especially, the sheer sound -- the rise and fall of the voices --embodies the the sense of loss the words seek to express, so that the repeated phrase "My dollar-and-a-half a day..." assumes a tragic dimension, like "Poor Tom's a'cold" in King Lear.

It does beat the version I sing with my dog, in my rough, authentic baritone.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood memories, September 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

My fisherman father had this as a 33 LP. I remember listening and singing along to this album as a child. My father is gone now and his copy lost. I am happy to have found this.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good basic stuff, November 7, 2001

By 

mattgb1 "mattgb1" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

They're a bit more stylized than I usually like (mainly because they felt a need to package this stuff more for appeal to the "mainstream" audience back then) but some really good songs, including the best recorded rendition of "Spanish Ladies" that I've ever heard.

I still have a scratched-up, well-used LP of this that I wouldn't part with.