Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra: Sea Pictures

Mendelssohn’s musical postcard of a Hebridean visit conjures up a whole seascape including the grandeur of Fingal’s Cave, the swelling of the sea, the light on the water and the fury of the waves breaking on the cliffs.   Like the sea itself, the surface of La Mer hints at the brooding mystery of its depths - a vibrating, oscillating, glimmering palette of sound which caresses the senses allowing the orchestra to shimmer in a thousand colours. Britten’s homage to his beloved teacher is equally as brilliant and sonorous. After the opening rather serious theme taken from Bridge’s Idyll, the subsequent variations range from a passionate and deeply felt adagio to playful parodies on opera arias, Viennese waltzes, and stuffy bourrées.