The sea - for orchestra

[Francis Pott]

Did anyone put in a word for Novak's 'Boure' [The Storm], opus 42? A huge piece for soloists, chorus and orchestra, full of wonderful music which manages wholly to transcend the lunacy of the poem it sets. The lengthy Epilogue is a very interesting foretaste of Janacek's Indian summer period, since this piece appeared in about 1909. It's taken me most of my life to find a score of this piece, but finally I have one (an enlightened German company has put out a reprint as a large-ish miniature score). The music immediately after the ship sinks (with swirling air pockets vividly captured as they come to the surface, and the sea returns to indifferent normality) is magnificently graphic and I defy anybody to ignore the thunderous opening (reprised climactically as the ship finally goes down with all on board). I just wish somebody would record the late 'Spring' and 'Autumn' Symphonies - I have the score of one, not the other. By the way, allegedly Novak wrote his orchestral overture 'Lady Godiva' in the impossibly brief period of two consecutive days in October 1907, in response to an emergency last-minute request. It lasts 17 minutes in Pesek's recording and is beautifully, also quite intricately scored. Perhaps a forum on the fastest composers around might prove interesting, even if not especially enlightening..?

[eschiss1]

Schubert wrote his almost an hour long string quartet no. 15 in June 1826; the program notes to a recording I have are more specific and suggest that the number of days during June 1826 it took him were not many (*goes to look, back in a minute   but that could be a interesting or at least amusing separate thread, anyway- sorry about that.* (not 2 days, admittedly.) (11 days - June 20 to 30)

[alberto]

Paul Hindemith his said to have composed in London his Trauermusik for viola and strings in six hours , prompted by King George V death (1926).

[alberto]

Sorry, mistype again. 1936 (not 1926).

[Alan Howe]

Gentlemen, we're off-topic here...

[X. Trapnel]

I don't think anyone has mentioned J.B. McEwen's Solway Symphony and fine as Nystroem's Sinfonia del Mare is his orchestral song Songs by the Sea is even better, like one of Edvard Munch's nocturnal seascapes.

[eschiss1]

well, it's been a long thread- the Solway Symphony was mentioned in the middle of page 3 (so, right in the middle of it? ) I do forget if anyone mentioned Santoliquido  (1883-1971)'s sketch "Crepuscolo sul Mare" for orchestra. (pub. Grandi, 1920.) (not a brief sketch- 40 pages of published score - sketch more in the "sketches for orchestra" sense...)

[chill319]

Thanks for calling attention to Novak's storm, Mr. Potts. Novak is one of the best of the best, IMHO, and I can't wait to hear the work.

Novak's very next opus, Pan, has a large central section devoted to the sea. Its splendidly written for the keyboard and probably even more rousing in its orchestral version.

[fuhred]

A little-known tone poem from Australian Romantic composer Alfred Hill simply entitled 'The Sea', was written during World War II, and was inspired by thoughts of those who had lost their lives at sea. It has sadly never been issued on CD, but there is a very good LP upload of the work on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgHkv9RmAhE

There are one or two decent Chinese orchestral pieces to do with the sea, and while they aren't the equal of, say, Debussy's La Mer, they are still quite attractive and worth checking out:

Song of the Sea, a tone poem by Wang Zong-jian and Wang Shu-feng, much in the style of Glazunov's The Sea. (HK 8.340069).
Ocean Symphony, by Sheng Li-hong (HK 8.340070) with a gorgeous slow movement called Meditation after the Storm.

Back to the Glazunov Sea for a moment, try listening to the Gennadi Provatorov version with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, released on Olympia, coupled with the ballet Les Ruses D'amour. It is an absolute knockout, way superior to the Jarvi (Chandos) version or even the recent Serebrier recording on Warner.

[jimmattt]

Gjerstrom's 2nd piano concerto, other-where mentioned on here is subtitled "The Sea"

Paul Dessau Orchestral Music No. 2 "Meer der Sturme"

[Latvian]

A wonderfully atmospheric work evoking the sea is Waves, composed around 1936 by Latvian composer Adolfs Skulte (1909-2000). Since there is currently no commercial recording of the work available, I'm posting a link to a broadcast recording of a live performance, in the Downloads section of the forum. Enjoy!