Mendelssohn / Chausson / Britten / Debussy (Live)

Conductor Philippe Jordan brings invigorating sea air to the plush and gilded sound of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. We set sail with Mendelssohn’s Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage). Its hushed opening and fresh-sounding high woodwind solos paint vivid images of a gathering sea wind, and for the voyage itself, the orchestra whips up excitement with powerful string and brass playing. Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, luscious settings of late-Romantic poetry (Australian soprano Nicole Car full of Wagnerian passion), precedes a bracingly atmospheric and punchy account of Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. But the drama continues in full sail with Debussy’s La mer, its performance full of invigorating detail—you can really hear the slap of the double basses’ strings as they rebound from the vigorous pizzicato Debussy demands at the end of the opening movement, “De l’aube à midi sur la mer”.