Royal Australian Navy Band

Performed at the Flagship Recital at the City Recital Hall, Sydney, on 10 July 2011 celebrating the Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy. The conductor is Commander Phillip Anderson, and the composer is Graham Lloyd.

Circumnavigation was commissioned by the Director of Music to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of Australian Naval Service and 100th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy. The work is based on the psalm 'They that go down to the sea in ships', and the choir sings this psalm throughout the work:
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down a-gain to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunk-en man, and are at their wit's end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a-calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their de-sired haven.
The work is in the form of a palindrome with the first section reflecting the vessel moored in the early morning prior to sailing. Soon, the lines are cast off and the vessel proceeds slowly from the safety of harbour and out to sea. The music then takes the listener on a journey through the majesty of the deep and into the full fury of a stormy sea. In the eye of the storm, the music takes on an eerie harmonization of the Naval Hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The harmonisation is based on the dominant chord and its substitute dominant--making one the sky and the other the sea, and the melody sits between the sea and the sky. The vessel then enters the other side of the storm, which finally abates with the vessel again in full sail prior to entering harbour. Show less