The Rising Sea Symphony

The dramatic effects of climate change evoked in words, sounds and a powerful new musical work.

Over four movements of rich and evocative music, the listener is transported to the front line of the climate crisis, with stories from coastal Ghana – where entire villages are being swept away by the rising sea – to Norway’s Svalbard archipelago in the high arctic where the ice is melting with alarming speed. The dramatic final movement ponders two contrasting possible outcomes to the crisis.

In an ambitious new work originally commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for their Between the Ears strand, Kieran Brunt weaves together electronic, vocal and orchestral elements recorded in isolation by players from the BBC Philharmonic. Each musician recorded their part individually at home and these recordings were then painstakingly combined by sound engineer Donald MacDonald to create a symphonic sound.

Documentary producer Laurence Grissell and composer Kieran Brunt have collaborated to produce an ambitious and original evocation of the causes and consequences of rising, warming oceans.

Credits

Composer: Kieran Brunt Producer: Laurence Grissell

Electronics and violin performed by Kieran Brunt Orchestral parts performed by members of the BBC Philharmonic Vocals: Kieran Brunt, Josephine Stephenson & Augustus Perkins Ray of the vocal ensemble Shards

Sound mixed by Donald MacDonald

Interviewees: Sulley Lansah, BBC Accra Office Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sørby, heartsintheice.com Blaise Agresti, former head of Mountain Rescue, Chamonix

Blaise Agresti recorded by Sarah Bowen

Wildlife recordings by Chris Watson

Newsreaders: Susan Rae & Tom Sandars Adverts voiced by Ian Dunnett Jnr, Luke Nunn, Charlotte East, Cecilia Appiah