Two British composers present works featuring the sea as a metaphor.  Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes are orchestral excerpts taken directly from his landmark opera Peter Grimes.  Set in a small Suffolk fishing village the suite paints a vivid portrait of the sea both as a natural force and a mirror for the main character’s isolation and downfall. The Interludes act as bridges between scenes, setting the emotional mood as the tragedy unfolds.  Listen for a calm dawn, a busy village Sunday morning, moonlight on the water and brooding atmospheric suspense before a final furious storm with high winds battering the coast.

Vaughan Williams first and longest symphony premiered in 1910 with the composer conducting.  He was a lifelong admirer of Walt Whitman and the text comes from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  It is one of the first symphonies in which a choir is used throughout as an integral part of the musical texture. A Sea Symphony and helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in Britain.  The symphony opens with a song for all seas and ships with a striking brass fanfare, then moves to the second quiet reflective movement as the observer stands alone on a beach at night.  A vivid musical picture of rolling ocean waves is followed by the final movement titled The Explorers, using the sea as a metaphone for the soul’s voyage into eternity.