"The sea, the sea," Greek mercenaries cheered, according to Xenophon, when they finally reached the Black Sea after a tough journey through enemy territory. Centuries later, the progenitor of American poetry - Walt Whitman - wrote a poem with a similar impact: 'Behold, the sea itself'. These lines inspired Vaughan Williams to the grand opening of his First Symphony (A sea symphony, 1903-09). So much
… optimism and joie de vivre, it was just possible then. The Titanic had not yet hit an iceberg, the dragging 19th century had not yet been wrecked by the horrors of the First World War, existence was still single and undivided. In his later music Vaughan Williams would often call into question that optimism. In its symphonic firstfruits, however, that all-encompassing sea was still its reassuring symbol. The poem Darest thou now, O soul (also by Whitman) went even a step further, 'to the unknown land' ('toward the unknown region'). Vaughan Williams made two sets of this visionary poem. The shorter second arrangement from 1925 sounds here as an encore to A sea symphony. (HJ)more
