Search - Bill Connor, Rlpo :: Tall Ships Suite

Most beautiful music I have ever heard

Newton Ooi | Phoenix, Arizona United States | 07/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was driving to work one day when I heard this album being played on 89.5 FM KBAQ, the local classical radio station in Phoenix, AZ. This was the most incredible piece of classical music I have ever heard. I had tuned in to the station in the middle of the first song, "Tall Ships Suite", and straight away I thought of large sailing ships on the open ocean; without even hearing the track title. Very, very few pieces of classical music can invoke a specific type of imagery in your mind, but this one did. Beethoven's Pastoral symphony is another good example of such a type of music.



How does this music sound like? Grand, dramatic, powerful, sweeping; along the lines of other great symphonies like Dvorak's 9th or Tchaikovsky's 5th. I also believe this is the best piece of music by an English composer(s). I told my good college buddy about this music, and he went to the Library of Congress and heard a recording of it there. He agreed; it was great music.



I had been searching for this album since I first heard it, but to no avail. Then lo and behold, somebody read this review (which has since changed) and mailed me a copy of the Tall Ships Suite in November 2004, right before my birthday. It was as beautiful as I remembered. Finally, the rights to the music were obtained by Arkiv and they re-released the album in the 2000's, and I bought a copy in 2006. This is when I made another discovery; the album contains two compositions after the Tall Ships Suite, titled Ocean Fantasia and Voyager. Both are great music also, though they are more evocative and dramatic, whereas the Tall Ships Suite is more in line with traditional symphonic music.



Probably the biggest surprise came in early January 2009, when a girl I knew from high school mailed me an original copy of this album by Conifer Records. Yes, classical music makes us better people. Now I'm just waiting for someone to put this into a movie."

Tall Ships Suite

W. Gross | Colorado Springs CO | 01/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has been off the market for a number of years except for its occasional play on classical music stations. But Arkiv music is now distributing the album under license from Sony BMG Masterworks and it is superb. This is the original 1992 recording by Conifer Records, and still without notes. There are five tracks. The Suite itself has three of them: (1) The Race Begins, (2) The Open Sea, and (3) Landfall and The Grand Parade of Sail. Then there are two additional tracks with pieces by the composers Dave Roylance and Bob Galvin: Ocean Fantasia and Voyager. They are as good or better than the Suite itself, and that's a feat. Total playing time is 54:38. As the other reviews suggest, this is Romantic music at its best, conveying the imagery and feel of the Tall Ships under sail. If you saw them entering New York Harbor, you have some inkling their magnificence. Listening to this suite takes you there. It offers the same kind of inspiration you might get from Beethoven's Eroica, Dvorak's New World Symphony, Holst's Planets, or any number of other musical epic saga's. It's an extraordinary piece of music without cliches. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra does a marvelous job, but because it was written as background music, you may find yourself cranking up the volume to match the vast expanse of its imagery. Don't hesitate. Get your copy before it disappears again.

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The item as described doesn't exist

Earthdog | Phoenix | 01/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I, too, heard the same broadcast. After a year of constant searching I finally got it. The tracks as listed here are terribly incorrect. As listed, the 5th track "Grand Parade of Sail" is actually the last movement of The Suite. "Ocean Fantasia" is not part of the The Suite. Since they're out of order, I'm pretty sure this listing is wrong. The CD I have was released in '92- MAYBE they changed the tracks for a '94 release. Considering how hard this CD is to get, I don't think so."