Do you like the Symphonies of Bax?

[71 dB]

My suggestions if you want to hear anything else by Bax are symphonies 3,2 and 5 and 'Tintagel'.

My plan is to listen to all the symphonies chronologically. Tintagel also, since people praise it so much. I will take my time, maybe a couple of symphonies per week.

[aligreto]

I decided to listen to my first Bax Symphony today on Spotify. It was the First Symphony, the recording was this:

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It was okay. I didn't hate it. It did not blow my mind. The music is more cubic and a bit clumsy rather than fluid and sophisticated. It had nice movie music type of orchestration. I didn't listen to the "fillers" on the disc.

My suggestion would be to listen to those "fillers" first. The Tone Poems are interesting works in themselves and may give you a lead into his sound world in a more concise way.

[vandermolen]

My plan is to listen to all the symphonies chronologically. Tintagel also, since people praise it so much. I will take my time, maybe a couple of symphonies per week.

Let us know how you get on. Other than what has already been recommended to you I'd suggest Nympholept and Christmas Eve in the Mountains, both hauntingly atmospheric scores in my view and the lovely Harp Quintet.

[Mirror Image]

I'm going to try and wrap my mind around Bax. What work(s) should I start with first? Thanks in advance.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm going to try and wrap my mind around Bax. What work(s) should I start with first?

I have no idea where you should start    All I can tell you is that Symphonies 2, 1 and 4 (despite its reputation as the weakest of the seven) are my favorites and the Third's Epilogue is the most moving music he ever composed. I need to survey the tone poems again but at this moment I agree with the consensus that Tintagel and Christmas Eve are probably the best.

Sarge

[Ken B]

I'm going to try and wrap my mind around Bax. What work(s) should I start with first? Thanks in advance.

Chamber stuff, 2 and 3.

[Mirror Image]

I have no idea where you should start    All I can tell you is that Symphonies 2, 1 and 4 (despite its reputation as the weakest of the seven) are my favorites and the Third's Epilogue is the most moving music he ever composed. I need to survey the tone poems again but at this moment I agree with the consensus that Tintagel and Christmas Eve are probably the best.

Sarge

Bax was a composer I enjoyed when I first started getting into classical music, but, over the years, I've become rather indifferent to his music. I'm not sure why exactly as the idea of his music (i. e. Impressionistic harmonies, swirling atmospheric textures) is actually very appealing to me, but when I hear his music, that's really all I hear. Someone mentioned that Bax's style, to those who aren't attracted to it, is impersonal. I'm inclined to agree since the composer doesn't seem, to me, to have a characteristic sound of his own. It just feels like the music is all smoke and mirrors. There is one work I've loved for many years and that's his chamber work In Memoriam. Really gorgeous work that seems to drop all of the misty harmonies and offers a more intimate portrait of the composer.

[Ken B]

Bax was a composer I enjoyed when I first started getting into classical music, but, over the years, I've become rather indifferent to his music. I'm not sure why exactly as the idea (i. e. Impressionistic harmonies, swirling atmospheric textures) is actually very appealing to me, but when I hear his music, that's really all I hear. .... It just feels like the music is all smoke and mirrors.

*stifles La Mer comment*

[arpeggio]

Interesting Bax story.

Our youngest son lives in Los Angeles and we sometimes piggy back our visits with trips to Arizona and New Mexico.  We live in Virginia.  We take some CD's with us to play in the car.  When driving through Arizona and New Mexico my wife likes to listen to Bax.  For her the music seems to fit the scenery.

[71 dB]

Let us know how you get on. Other than what has already been recommended to you I'd suggest Nympholept and Christmas Eve in the Mountains, both hauntingly atmospheric scores in my view and the lovely Harp Quintet.

Symphony 2 done today on Spotify. Somehow I expected an improvement from the first, but it was pretty much more of the same. In fact I felt more bored this time. Hopefully the third is finally an improvement. 

I have the Harp Quintet, the Naxos disc with it. That has been my only Bax disc for over a decade. So far I feel I enjoy the chamber stuff more than the symphonic stuff, but we'll see...

[vandermolen]

Symphony 2 done today on Spotify. Somehow I expected an improvement from the first, but it was pretty much more of the same. In fact I felt more bored this time. Hopefully the third is finally an improvement. 

I have the Harp Quintet, the Naxos disc with it. That has been my only Bax disc for over a decade. So far I feel I enjoy the chamber stuff more than the symphonic stuff, but we'll see...

Ok, fingers crossed for No.3 ( the last movement is best)

[vandermolen]

I'm going to try and wrap my mind around Bax. What work(s) should I start with first? Thanks in advance.

I'd say symphonies 5 and 3 John, although I like them all, even the much derided No.4. Also the Harp Quintet and the tone poems Tintagel, Christmas Eve and Nympholept and Northern Ballad No.1 as well as the Symphonic Variations ( a kind of massive piano concerto).

[Mirror Image]

I'd say symphonies 5 and 3 John, although I like them all, even the much derided No.4. Also the Harp Quintet and the tone poems Tintagel, Christmas Eve and Nympholept and Northern Ballad No.1 as well as the Symphonic Variations ( a kind of massive piano concerto).

Thanks, Jeffrey. I'll keep these works in mind the next time I get the courage to give Bax another try.

[Maestro267]

I like them all, even the much derided No.4.

You're kidding me, right? No. 4 is derided? *facepalm* Well whoever derides it, you are so phenomenally wrong it hurts. It's one of his masterpieces, one of the great sea-evoking works.

Ranking: 6-4-2-1-3-5-7

[vandermolen]

You're kidding me, right? No. 4 is derided? *facepalm* Well whoever derides it, you are so phenomenally wrong it hurts. It's one of his masterpieces, one of the great sea-evoking works.

Ranking: 6-4-2-1-3-5-7

I totally agree with you. Maybe 'derided' was putting it too strongly but it is usually seen as the 'weakest' and most diffuse of them all. I had the original LP with Vernon Handley conducting the Guildford Philharmonic. That release on CD was one of the few genuine releases from the company that perpetrated the Joyce Hatto Fraud.

My Ranking: 3,5,4,2,7,1,6

[Sergeant Rock]

Ranking: 6-4-2-1-3-5-7

My Ranking: 3,5,4,2,7,1,6

I'm far closer to the Maestro.

2 1 4 6 3 5 7

Good to see we all value the Fourth.


Sarge

[aukhawk]

I like Nos 2 & 5 best.  Look for Symphony 2 conducted by Myer Fredman on the Lyrita label.  A demonstration-worthy vinyl disc in its day.

[vandermolen]

I like Nos 2 & 5 best.  Look for Symphony 2 conducted by Myer Fredman on the Lyrita label.  A demonstration-worthy vinyl disc in its day.

And here it is - one of the greatest Bax CDs of all time. Anyone who wants to try Symphony 5 must hear this version - it is head and shoulders above any other:

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[aligreto]

And here it is - one of the greatest Bax CDs of all time. Anyone who wants to try Symphony 5 must hear this version - it is head and shoulders above any other:

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Interesting; I like Bax and I like Leppard but I would not have put the two together.

[vandermolen]

Interesting; I like Bax and I like Leppard but I would not have put the two together.

He is a great and underrated conductor (aged 89 now). His recording of Bax's valedictory 7th Symphony is also without equal:
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Perhaps my familiarity with these Lyrita recording of symphonies 5 and 7 is why I rate them more highly than others here. For those who find the symphonies rather diffuse I think that No.5, especially in this recording, is the most coherent of the seven. It has  a wonderfully redemptive, liturgical sounding, conclusion. Like Vaughan Williams's 5th Symphony it is dedicated to Sibelius and undoubtedly shows his influence. Lyrita unfortunately never recorded symphonies 3 and 4 as these already existed on record before the Lyrita series started. No.3 in recordings by Barbirolli and Downes (shamefully never released on CD) and Symphony 4 with Vernon Handley and the Guildford PO. Bryden Thomson recorded the finest version of the underrated Symphony 4 with the Ulster Orchestra on Chandos, coupled with a wonderful 'Tintagel'.

My favourite recordings:

No.1 Fredman
No.2 Fredman
No.3 Downes
No.4 Thomson
No.5 Leppard
No.6 Lloyd Jones
No.7 Leppard