Monterey Symphony Concert 3, Sound Waves

The season Sound Waves comes alive in the third concert with four works all dedicated to the sea. Claude Debussy, the father of Impressionism in music, composed La Mer in the mold of a symphony, but eschewed the traditional title for one more authentic to the sound of the music. French composer Jacques Ibert, the director of French opera in Rome, wrote Escales – a suite for orchestra that perfectly resembles postcards from three Mediterranean ports – after finding his obsession with the sea.

This concert features "Four Sea Interludes" from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a, by Benjamin Britten, England's finest modern opera composer: composed in 1945, Grimes launched his career in the new post-war era. The gorgeous tone-poem Oceanides, Op. 73, by Jean Sibelius was inspired by the sea-nymphs referenced in Greek mythology: haunting and tempting.