Customer Reviews

Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony [Hybrid SACD]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have to admit that I have not always seen eye to eye with this late lamented conductor. In many of his recordings of the foreign repertoire I felt he often navigated the corners a bit too fast with insufficient regard for the native colours (de mortuis nihil nisi bene ... and all that, I apologize), but among his compatriots he almost invariably swam like a fish, and with Vaughan Williams he arguably made his greatest kills. The universally commended recording of the second symphony was in several ways one of a kind, and the outings into the world of the rarely heard stageworks always brought many a thrill. Having for years enjoyed Hickox's early disc of the "Sea Symphony" (1990, Virgin) I had high hopes for this issue, and much to everybody's praise I was not disappointed for a second during 4577 seconds of exquisite playing.

Every detail of an often awkward score is there in its best possible light, every shade of beauty and emotion drawn from Whitman's ebullient texts by an excellent singer duo, perhaps the best I have encountered since Roocroft/Hampson gave it their all for Sir Andrew Davis a decade and a half ago. The largo has an almost icy beauty that outdoes all competition, but the acid test for any recording of VW's first, to me, is the swell of the orchestra in the finale to the words: "O Thou transcendent"; if total inundation does not immediately follow I, for one, am not amused. Hickox builds up the climax to perfection, and though the live recording may restrict the orchestra sound a bit the effect is still colossal, and unlike the above mentioned Davis recording Hickox's soloists are not mared by a strange boxed-in sound that is the probable result of them being recorded in a separate - and somewhat smaller - room from the orchestra. All in all, unlike my co-reviewer Mr. J R Sound Police, I find the recorded sound to be very adequate, in places positively impressive, and it certainly does not distract from the overall joy of a thoroughly inspired performance, right at the top of my list next to Boult and Sir Andrew Davis. Haitink's version, deeply felt though it is, is too lumbering according to my taste.

The ouverture to "The Wasps" is as witty and eloquent as the author of the play, and the interpretation only enforces the general impression of the greatest care and dedication. Enthusiastically recommended.

I am reviewing the Mp3 version of this wonderful recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams "A Sea Symphony". The first thing I noticed when listening to the overture "The Wasps" was that Richard Hickox and the LSO
obviously know their Vaughan Williams. The performance sparkles with all the wit and whimsy RVW wanted in this work. Then the LSO and Chorus and
Susan Gritton and Gerald Finley proceed to give us a live and clean and clear performance of RVW's First Symphony, and what a performance! I have to confess the only recordings I can compare this one to are the Boult recording on EMI and The Previn recording on RCA. This one reminds me the most of the Boult in many ways, it enjoys the advantage of being a live
digital recording, Richard Hickox on the podium, the LSO, the soli, and the LSO chorus. All of whom give us a performance that is the new benchmark in this work. Credit must also be given to RVW and to Walt Whitman, who I would like to think might have approved of RVW setting his works to some of RVW's best music ever. The Mp3 which is a 256kbps download, sounds just fine to me, although I have to wonder why Amazon.com doesn't do like other Mp3 websites and just do 320kbps. Sure I could have gone to the Chandos web site and bought the download there, but I saved a little bit of money by buying it from Amazon. As for the buying and downloading itself, it was quite easy, and I will be comming back for more. As for this recording whether you buy it on CD, SACD or as an Mp3 it is worth getting! I think only RVW could have managed to set the word Taciturn to music so brilliantly!

The Chandos Hickox Vaughan Williams cycle is one the best available. The performances and the recording quality are excellent. Most would rate 5+ stars.

This recording is a mastered at such a low volume, I would tend to believe that there has been some kind of mistake. You really need to crank up the amps in order to hear much of the performance. This even applies to some passages that are not even supposed to be quiet. I have listened to both the SACD and CD layers on state of the art equipment and find the sound level to be inferior for both formats.