Peter Oundjian's opening remarks set the scene. Two works about the sea but very different from one another. The evening's major work - Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, he told us, was first performed in 1910 at a time when Britain ruled the waves, the sea was already a major topic for composers like Elgar, Delius and Stanford and that American humanist Walt Whitman's writings were in vogue with his collection Leaves of Grass eventually containing 400 poems.
Whilst A Sea Symphony's first three movements relate to matters nautical, ships, beach at night and waves the fourth and longest took us into transcendentalism - which had believed in the here-and-now goodness of people and nature - and quietens quite suddenly as it ends staring into the unknown.
Although Walt Whitman's text was in English I found Benedict Nelson's baritone voice in the early stages of the first movement 'Behold, the sea itself' unclear and for the words I needed to consult the programme. The soprano voice of Katherine Broderick was easier but the most clear were the one hundred and thirty or more voices of the RSNO Chorus. Once into the second movement the soloists were far more enjoyable but time and again the clarity came from the Chorus, trained as they were by Gregory Batsleer. The teething difficulties over, I really found myself absorbed and particularly enjoyed the sea shanties within the third movement. The organ played by Michael Bawtree gave background majesty to the work.
In her fifteen minute pre-concert talk, Ursula Heidecker Allen reminded regulars that we had heard Debussy's La mer, which opened the concert, several times in recent years under the baton of Stéphane Denève. But would it be different under Peter Oundjian, she challenged. She gave no clues. It was very slightly faster and conducted in a slightly more businesslike Oundjian way but it was very much Debussy's proud sea for all that.
For me an impressive concert which can only enhance the reputation of the RSNO Chorus and a concert where two works on the same topic and age but so very different gave real enjoyment because of their difference.
Performance: Friday 19th February 2016 at 7.30pm