Edward MacDowell composed his Sea Pieces on summer holidays between 1896 and 1898; they were published as Op. 55 in the latter year. At this stage in his life, MacDowell was happily engaged in the hard work of establishing a music department at Columbia University, and the style of the Sea Pieces suggest a sense of recreation and amusement. A poetic excerpt prefaces each piece; MacDowell likely provided these as well.

The eight pieces are "To the Sea," "From a Wandering Iceberg," "A. D. MDCXX," "Starlight," "Song," "From the Depths," "Nautilus," and "In Mid-Ocean." It's difficult to not lavish too much praise on MacDowell's work here: from a purely pictorial standpoint, the Sea Pieces are superbly successful, as you can literally smell the sea air from the opening bars. Waves crash, and sea birds hover over the horizon. In musical terms, the score is laid out with splendid clarity, and sounds very well on the piano; however, it is by no means easy to play, save perhaps "Nautilus"—a fairy scene that adds contrast in an otherwise implacably sea-going set of pieces.

Some chord voicings are fairly modern sounding for the 1890s, as is the case with many late works of MacDowell. However, rather than providing a sense of foreshadowing, MacDowell's harmonic craft provides an aura of timelessness to the work, making it both difficult to tie to a specific chronological period and "built to last." Among many unusual passages in the Sea Pieces is the fifth-based decrescendo at the end of "A. D. MDCXX."

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.