Symphony No. 1 for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra "A Sea Symphony": I. Flaunt Out, O Sea, Your Separate Flags of Nations!
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (/boʊlt/; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was … Read Full Bio ↴Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (/boʊlt/; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was the conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivaled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.
Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult took on the chief conductorship of the LPO. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance, its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957 and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian Summer".
Boult was known for his championing of British music. He gave the first performance of his friend Gustav Holst's The Planets and introduced new works by, among others, Elgar, Bliss, Britten, Delius, Rootham, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, and Walton. In his BBC years, he introduced works by foreign composers, including Bartók, Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Webern. A modest man who disliked the limelight, Boult felt as comfortable in the recording studio as on the concert platform, making recordings throughout his career. From the mid-1960s until his retirement after his last sessions in 1978 he recorded extensively for EMI. As well as a series of recordings that have remained in the catalog for three or four decades, Boult's legacy includes his influence on prominent conductors of later generations, including Colin Davis and Vernon Handley.
Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult took on the chief conductorship of the LPO. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance, its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957 and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian Summer".
Boult was known for his championing of British music. He gave the first performance of his friend Gustav Holst's The Planets and introduced new works by, among others, Elgar, Bliss, Britten, Delius, Rootham, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, and Walton. In his BBC years, he introduced works by foreign composers, including Bartók, Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Webern. A modest man who disliked the limelight, Boult felt as comfortable in the recording studio as on the concert platform, making recordings throughout his career. From the mid-1960s until his retirement after his last sessions in 1978 he recorded extensively for EMI. As well as a series of recordings that have remained in the catalog for three or four decades, Boult's legacy includes his influence on prominent conductors of later generations, including Colin Davis and Vernon Handley.
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Symphony No. 1 for soprano baritone chorus & orchestra "A Sea Symphony": I. Flaunt Out O Sea Your Separate Flags of Nations!
Sir Adrian Boult Lyrics
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Alex Bennett
I have heard many recordings, some very well regarded ones, of this symphony, but this is the one. It is astonishing from first to last. It is a fortuitous wonder in which orchestra, singers and conductor create something transcendent. You do not listen to this and admire it, you experience it.
Just off of the top of my head, picking just one moment, in this instance from IV: The Explorers: 'O thou transcendent, Nameless, the fibre and the breath,' every hair on my body stands up as if jolted with electricity.
On a personal note drawn from my family history, there are several passages where i simply cannot listen to it without weeping, so profoundly moving a performance it is and, as Paul Barrett says, filled with humanity.
'A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o'er all brave sailors, all seas, all ships'.
Alex Bennett
@Andy Groves Wonderful story and what an experience that must have been!
Andy Groves
I was lucky enough to sing in the London Philharmonic Choir for this recording. It was a very special experience for us. When we did the first take of the Scherzo, we got to the end, everyone looked at each other in astonishment and the producer came on the intercom and said "Well that was it. Let's do it one more time just in case..", but I believe the recording has that one single continuous first take. Bernard Haitink was a joy to work with, and at the end of the sessions he made a sweet little speech in which he congratulated the choir - all amateur singers - for our professionalism. RIP Maestro.
Claire
Totally agree with you
claudio william araujo
Maravilhoso
..... nos leva ao encontro de Deus nas alturas!
Paul Barrett
I think Haitink's performance with the LPO has the greatest breadth of any performance I've ever heard. As always with this wonderful conductor, there is such humanity as well as an overarching sense of the structure- he's marvellous. I have just been listening to his recording of Bruckner 8 with the Concertgebouw- wow!
Alex Bennett
Totally agree.
Jill Smyth
I agree with the comments. An amazing rendition of a too hidden masterpiece full of excitement, passion, humanity. It also makes me thrill and weep all the way through. Transcendent indeed!
Armani Jamal
@August Ryker no problem :D
August Ryker
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