Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Gerald Finley (Performer), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), Richard Hickox (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Susan Gritton (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Gerald Finley, Susan Gritton
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Richard Hickox
• Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Audio CD (March 27, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000MEYHGC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,887 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH TO SEE OFF THE BEST, April 3, 2007

By 

Klingsor Tristan (Suffolk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

This is a very fine performance of VW's Sea Symphony, if not quite enough to efface memories of some of the classics. It's up against pretty fierce competition in the shape of Boult's first recording for Decca with a stunning soprano soloist in Isobel Baillie, though in mono sound, as well as his second recording with EMI which benefits from warm, glorious sound recorded in the old Kingsway Hall. There's also Handley and Haitink to contend with, both also on EMI who seem to come out of this pretty well with three of the top performances on their label.

The sound on the Hickox disc, despite much more recent vintage, is not really up there with Boult 2 or Haitink. This is a live performance given at the Barbican and does suffer from the kind of slightly desiccated sound that hall always seems to produce. Vaughan Williams' orchestra and chorus in full flight or even in some of the quieter passages in the Finale benefits enormously from a bit more bloom, a bit more spaciousness, a bit more room to expand than they get here.

The performance itself would also benefit from a touch more expansiveness, particularly in the opening movement. It lacks both the overwhelming surge of a Boult or a Handley and the symphonic cogency of Haitink. Hickox's enormous experience with choruses means that, in many ways, the movement that comes off best is the Scherzo which flashes and sparkles with great precision and rhythmic alertness in the singing. Those last notes which are left hanging in the air (shamelessly borrowed by VW's own admission from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis) leave the listener with a truly hair-raising sense of expectancy. And that expectancy is largely fulfilled by a profound and moving Finale which genuinely explores the profundity of Walt Whitman's somewhat purple, questing poetry. The soloists, Susan Gritton and Gerald Finley, rise admirably to the challenge of the ecstatic, soaring lines of `O we can wait no longer' before the whole ensemble subsides to the dreamy, pp view of eternity on `O farther sail' at the end.

It's a performance, then, that takes a while to get into its stride. Once there (in the Scherzo and Finale) it is as fine as most. But overall, Boult, Haitink or Handley are still the place to start for this big and glorious work.

The Symphony is preceded by a fun account of The Wasps Overture, giving full rein to the Big Tune.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Performance and Recording of a Great Work, April 12, 2007

By 

J. Poss "Jeff3948" (Pahrump, Nevada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

Vaughan Williams "A Sea Symphony" is one of the greatest and most inspiring works of the 20th century, with excepts from Walt Whitman's masterpiece, "Leaves of Grass". No other work better captures the majesty and beauty of the Sea. Here we have, if I'm not mistaken, the first live recording ever produced by Chandos and the audience is extremely quite to the point of not even knowing they are their. This is a very complex work to perform and record with it's extremely large forces. Richard Hickox does an amazing job at handling all the forces involved. The chorus sounds sumptuous yet precise and the sections are very well defined across the front stereo spread. The balance between chorus and orchestra is almost perfect. Gerald Finley does a superb job with just the right emotional inflections with his dark voluptuous baritone voice. The surround sound places him right of center in front of the orchestra and Susan Gritton left of center. Susan Gritton is not quite as strong or beautifully voiced as Gerald but she still sounds great. The eeb and flow that Hickox creates is wonderful. Overall the ambiance in the Barbican Centre where this performance took place is very good with a perfect 2 second decay time. What also impressed me about this recording were the subtleties and nuances of phrasing during the quiet passages such as "And all that went down doing their duty" in the first movement and "Wherefore, unsatisfied soul? Whither O mocking life?" in the last movement are very moving. The overture to "The Wasps" is a great opening and played with aplumb.

Two caveats; the timpani tends to get muddy and lacks definition. Listen to Leonard Slatkin's performance of this work for RCA for excellent timpani sound and the second caveat is the organ is barely audible. Chandos own recording from 1989 with Bryden Thompson conducting has more audible organ.

Also impressive is the dynamic range of this Hickox performance. It is extreme and adds greatly to the high drama of this work. I found that I had to listen to this with the volume turned higher them normal to get the right level for the soft passages. But the load passages did not irritate my ears like a normal CD (Red Book). Oh, I did listen to the regular CD layer as well and it sounds very good indeed but lacks the dynamic range and subtleties of the SACD stereo layer and of course the 3 dimensionality of the SACD 5 channel layer. If you don't have one already, you really must get an SACD player to really hear the natural beauty of the SACD format. The timbre of the instruments is particularly revealed in SACD. Also you will notice that your ears to not get fatigued which happens when listeing to regular CDs.

Some short remarks about past recordings: The old standard has always been Sir Adrian Boult's 1968 recording done in Kingsway Hall (renowned for it's great acoustics but was torn down in the early 1980's). Unfortunately, that old recording shows very dead acoustics and lacks details compared to this new recording by Hickox. Listen to the opening fanfare of the Boult recording and listen to the reverberation decay time, it's almost none existent. This new Hickox recording is warm and sumptuous with a nice 2 second reverberation decay time from the Barbican hall. Leonard Slatkin's recording done in Abby Road Studio 1 is actually very good as well. But the strongest competition comes from Chandos own catalog with, not surprisingly, the same forces, The London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus but this time conducted by Bryden Thompson and different soloists recorded in the spacious acoustics of St. Judes Church, Central Square, London, but its lack of detail shows compared to this new recording. I wish Chandos would have recorded this new Hickox performance at St. Judes Church, Central Square, London or Chandos other favorite venue, All Saints Church, Tooting. With the added detail of SACD I think it would have been truely great.

All in all this new recording by Hickox is the current best. And I find that I'm listening to the Hickox recording again and again and not getting tired of it. It is so beautiful. I give it 4.6 stars (had to round up to 5), not a perfect score due to the 2 caveats mentioned earlier.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very fine recording of the Sea Symphony, August 27, 2011

By 

Andrew R. Barnard (Leola, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

This is a fine recording of the Sea Symphony. The late Richard Hickox has always had special things to say when it comes to the music of his native land. While perhaps it's his recordings of the more unknown works that are his greatest accomplishments, he has a real hand for anything British, which includes the popular Vaughan Williams compositions. And there's absolutely no other orchestra under the sun that is more suited to this repertoire than the London Symphony. So, needless to say, we have a great group of musicians and can expect a lot.

And there's certainly a lot of fulfillment of our expectations. Added to Hickox's gift with English music is his gift as a choral conductor, and the LSO Chorus is a group of fabulous singers, perhaps in part because of Hickox's extensive work with them. Everything is done with real energy and involvement. Hickox knows how to pull bits of detail from the music that is always a treat to hear. But what's possibly the biggest plus here is the feel for the pastoral vein that's in Vaughan Williams. So even though this symphony is about the sea, you'll get wistful bits of nostalgia that will remind you of later Vaughan Williams. That's not to say that you'll miss out on the drama that here--you'll still get plenty of that, thanks in large part to the LSO brass. But Hickox knows when those moments come when everything becomes dreamy, almost as if though you're homesick, as great a time as you're having at sea. There are a lot of challenges that come in conducting a work that's on a grand scale like this, and Hickox certainly seems to have mastered the work. The only setback is Chandos' recording quality, which doesn't capture everything as wonderfully as they have elsewhere. The volume level is VERY low, which I find distracting. But it's not bad enough to seriously keep the listener from enjoying this wonderful performance.

Our soloists are also top notch, particularly Gerald Finley, a baritone whose rich, resonant voice can only add to the success of the work. Finley certainly does his part very well. Susan Gritton is likewise in top form, with a wonderful soprano voice that enables her soar, a quality that is much to be desired in this work.

The performance of the Wasps Overture is certainly a very fine one, with the presence of the noisy insects made very apparent. Only the LSO could make this work so big and fun, and Hickox knows just how to make them perform to their highest potential. It's a win on my list.

In closing, this is a wonderful recording of one of England's greatest choral works. Grab it if you get a chance.