BBC Symphony Orchestra & Martyn Brabbins - Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony (2018)

One of the mightiest of first symphonies, Vaughan Williamss setting of Walt Whitman creates a very special sense of occasion. The coupling is more Whitman: RVWs later, virtually unknown Darest thou now, O soul for chorus and strings.

Brabbins's recordings of British symphonic music has been justly acclaimed. Now he brings us this surging account of the great Sea Symphony. The choral singing is magnificent throughout, and the BBCSO vividly capture VW's tangy, salty orchestration especially in the scherzo. Elizabeth Llewellyn's shining soprano is more forwardly recorded than Marcus Farnsworth's lithe lyric baritone. --Sunday Time, September'18

Resplendenlty engineered by Simon Eadon at Blackheath Concert Halls, this is, quite simply, a release not to be missed and fingers crossed for the remaining seven RVW symphonies from Barbbins and Hyperion. --Gramophone, October'18