Sir Arnold Bax

[vandermolen]

I got to know the Second from the Edward Downes/ BBCSO LP, the most remarkable thing about this recording being that the orchestra sounds like it's playing absolutely central repertory not something from the fringes: they play with an entirely naturally mature conviction and refinement you might only expect in say a Brahms symphony. The music very much deserves it of course.

I wish that RCA or someone else would release Bax's Third Symphony (LSO Downes). This was how I got to discover Bax as my university had a copy of the LP in their record library in the 1970s. I spent many hours listening to it. Some critics don't like it but it remains my favourite version.

[Sean]

Hi vandermolen

My favourite Thomson CD has his unrivalled version of Nympholept, Paen and the beautiful Christmas Eve in the mountains.

You're the first person I've come across who's mentioned this disc, but it is very special- Christmas Eve is a fabulous piece, very Wagnerian with the sense of constantly reaching into new realms with those endless chords; Paean of course also has minimalist associations and the intoxication of repetition.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I wish that RCA or someone else would release Bax's Third Symphony (LSO Downes). This was how I got to discover Bax as my university had a copy of the LP in their record library in the 1970s. I spent many hours listening to it. Some critics don't like it but it remains my favourite version.

Yes yes! We really are contemporaries - I borrowed the same LP from the music library in Amsterdam. I always found the coupling, The Happy Forest, the best performance I know.

[vandermolen]

Hi vandermolen

You're the first person I've come across who's mentioned this disc, but it is very special- Christmas Eve is a fabulous piece, very Wagnerian with the sense of constantly reaching into new realms with those endless chords; Paean of course also has minimalist associations and the intoxication of repetition.

Hi Sean,

Nice to hear that.  Yes, this is probably my favourite Bax CD (or at least the one I play most often) and yet, apart from Tintagel (on the original Chandos release, though not on the reissue) the pieces are hardly known at all. The Festival Overture starts off conventionally enough but then a characteristically beautiful Baxian tune emerges. Nympholept (more atmospheric in my view than the Naxos version) and Christmas Eve are wonderfully characteristic and, in the latter case, deeply moving works. Paen is a riot. Like Northern Ballad No 1 (on Lyrita), I am surprised (well, saddened rather than surprised) that these works are not better known.

[vandermolen]

Yes yes! We really are contemporaries - I borrowed the same LP from the music library in Amsterdam. I always found the coupling, The Happy Forest, the best performance I know.

That's nice to hear too!

Yes, I was eventually able to buy my own copy when RCA issued it on a mid price label in c 1977/8 but it never made it to CD (RCA also never released Morton Gould conducting Miaskovsky Symphony 21 with Rimsky Korsakov's "Antar" Symphony, which was another great music library discovery from my youth).

A friend of mine on a visit to Russia, many years ago, was amazed at the number of discs devoted to the music of Bax, until he realised that "Bax" was the russian for "Bach"!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That's nice to hear too!

Yes, I was eventually able to buy my own copy when RCA issued it on a mid price label in c 1977/8 but it never made it to CD (RCA also never released Morton Gould conducting Miaskovsky Symphony 21 with Rimsky Korsakov's "Antar" Symphony, which was another great music library discovery from my youth).

I found the Morton Gould Miaskovsky 21 somewhere on the Internet, a few weeks ago. Sonically not great, but still... Interested?

[vandermolen]

I found the Morton Gould Miaskovsky 21 somewhere on the Internet, a few weeks ago. Sonically not great, but still... Interested?

Yes, of course.  Do you mean the old LP?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes, of course.  Do you mean the old LP?

No, a rip... I uploaded it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4sjbu1zmbxm

No, I didn't - it's Copland's 'The Tender Land'... 

[vandermolen]

No, a rip... I uploaded it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4sjbu1zmbxm

Thanks ever so much but I just downloaded it and it is not Miaskovsky Symphony 21!

I think that it is "The Tender Land" by Copland!

I love The Tender Land, so thanks anyway.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks ever so much but I just downloaded it and it is not Miaskovsky Symphony 21!

I think that it is "The Tender Land" by Copland!

I love The Tender Land, so thanks anyway.

Hm - I just compared Svetlanov and Gould and noticed they were two completely different works... I am just starting with Miaskosvky's symphonic oeuvre, so I didn't know... 

And the Copland piece is new to me, too...

You learn something every day, I suppose.

[tjguitar]

Volume 9 in Chandos "Orchestral Works" series, containing Bryden Thomson's recordings of ballet and incidental music is now available for pre-order from MDT:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//CHAN10457X.htm

[vandermolen]

I had a message from Lyrita (see below) to say that they are trying to issue the RCA recording of Bax's Third Symphony (LSO, Downes) on Lyrita but negotiations are at an early stage. I will keep my fingers crossed!

Dear Sir,

We are already investigating the possibility of getting that recording of Bax 3 for release on Lyrita, but as the process is at an early stage it is impossible to say whether we are likely to be successful.

Thank you for your suggestion.

Caractacus Downes

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I had a message from Lyrita (see below) to say that they are trying to issue the RCA recording of Bax's Third Symphony (LSO, Downes) on Lyrita but negotiations are at an early stage. I will keep my fingers crossed!

Dear Sir,

We are already investigating the possibility of getting that recording of Bax 3 for release on Lyrita, but as the process is at an early stage it is impossible to say whether we are likely to be successful.

Thank you for your suggestion.

Caractacus Downes

Excellent initiative, vandermolen. Let's hope it's successful. (And what a wonderful Elgarian name - 'Caractacus'!)

Johan

[Sergeant Rock]

Just received the new Lyrita of Bax Symphony 2 and 5: a wonderful disc. Raymond Leppard's recording of No 5 is (in my view) in a class of its own.

I've been looking for that. Where did you purchase it? Its not listed at my usual sources (JPC, Amazon). By the way, it received a 10/10 from Hurwitz:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11488

Sarge

[vandermolen]

I've been looking for that. Where did you purchase it? Its not listed at my usual sources (JPC, Amazon). By the way, it received a 10/10 from Hurwitz:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11488

Sarge

Sarge/Jezetha

I got it from MDT Mail Order:

www.mdt.co.uk

They sell the Lyritas for £10, which is good value.

Thanks for the interesting link.

I see that, like me, Mr Hurwitz can't wait for Havergal Brian's 6th and 16th symphonies to rise from the ashes.

Caractacus told me that his Dad also wanted to see the Downes Bax 3 on Lyrita. I guess he must be responsible for the Elgarian name of his son!

[Sergeant Rock]

Sarge
I got it from MDT Mail Order:
www.mdt.co.uk

Thanks, Van.

I see that, like me, Mr Hurwitz can't wait for Havergal Brian's 6th and 16th symphonies to rise from the ashes.

Even though I still have the LP of the 6th and 16th, I'm also excited about, and looking forward to, the CD release.

Sarge

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks, Van.

Even though I still have the LP of the 6th and 16th, I'm also excited about, and looking forward to, the CD release.

Sarge

I have the 6th & 16th on a 25 years old tape cassette - and I can still play them! But it will be smashing to have them finally on CD.

[Dundonnell]

I have the 6th & 16th on a 25 years old tape cassette - and I can still play them! But it will be smashing to have them finally on CD.

Scheduled for later this month or early March, I believe?

[vandermolen]

Scheduled for later this month or early March, I believe?

I only have the old LP with no facility to play it. So I am eagerly awaiting the CD release. MDT tell me that they have been inundated with requests for this CD.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I only have the old LP with no facility to play it. So I am eagerly awaiting the CD release. MDT tell me that they have been inundated with requests for this CD.

Well well - Brian causing an inundation! Who would have thought it...