SEASCAPES | ADVENTURE | ATMOSPHERE

Under the direction of David Brophy, this BBC Radio 3 Friday Night is Music Night celebrates Britain’s enduring relationship with the sea, blending light hearted charm with richly atmospheric music.

From the overture to Sullivan’s irresistible H.M.S. Pinafore to Walton’s exuberant Portsmouth Point, the first half evokes coastal life in all its colour and variety. Soloist Gareth Brynmor John brings narrative to settings of John Ireland’s Sea Fever and Rebecca Clarke’s haunting The Seal Man, while Bax’s evocative tone poem Tintagel rises in romantic splendour, its waves surging against the Cornish cliffs. 

After the interval, our seafaring adventure continues with Korngold’s swashbuckling The Sea Hawk, alongside miniatures of seaside wit and nostalgia by Whitlock and Hedges. The concert culminates in Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, a timeless portrayal of the sea’s ever-changing moods. 

Sullivan H.M.S Pinafore Overture
Binge Sailing By (3') 
Binge The Watermill (3') 
Walton Portsmouth Point (5’) 
Ireland Sea Fever  (3’)  
Clarke The Seal Man (6’)  
Bax Tintagel (12’) 
Interval (20') 
Korngold The Sea Hawk: Overture
Hedges 4 Breton Sketches. III. Promenade A Dinard (3') 
Whitlock Spade and Bucket Polka (3') 
Whitlock Cyfres Wessex: The Blue Pool (4') 
Britten  Four Sea Interludes (16') 
Hedges Scenes from the Humber: IV Humber Keel Hornpipe