I’m playing it this weekend and have figured out some fingerings that are letting me navigate it pretty successfully. I am leaving out a few of the inner left hand notes though to get it to 150. Some conductors do take the opening vln solo a tad slower than the rest of the variant though. Shoot me an email and I can email you a scan of my markings. paula.e.bressman@gmail.com

Thanks, Erin, I think that was me (Barbara Fackler and I reworked it) and although I’d seen the request a few days ago haven’t had time or been near my own PC to respond. Alison

I have an interesting excerpt from my Vaughan William biography to add to this but unfortunately its scanned and just over 1 megabyte.

He has a lot of unnecessary doublings. You do not need to play a chord on the downbeat in that tempo, not when the following notes are the same as the chord. It should be two harps to have those notes played. Isn’t this scored for two harps? Yes, it says to have two harps, so harp II should play the chords and harp I the moving notes. It should all be divided. You can always eliminate a tone that is played higher in the right hand, and if he write cgce in the left hand, you only need cge. If he writes cace, you only need to play cae. Get it? I wish I’d known this when I was handed the Sea Symphony out of the blue.

Yes he wanted the harp doubled, I think splitting the part is fine but doubling would be too erratic.

Alison, if you would be so kind, may I also get a copy of your reworked version? My maestro just selected this today, as we cautiously return to in-person concerts–no wind instruments!