Sir Arnold Bax

[vandermolen]

Personally I favour the even-numbered symphonies over the odd.

Which is the opposite to Malcolm Arnold for me where I prefer the odd numbered ones.
As for Bax I'd go along with the above recommendations although I actually like all of them. My favourites list would be:
3,5,7,4,1,2,6 (many, however, consider No.6 to be the greatest and 4 and 7 to be the weakest).

[Roasted Swan]

Thanks much, boys. I will check out 3, 5 & 6, and probably stick w/ Naxos for now. I've never bought a Lyrita recording. I'm sure there are gems in that catalogue, but they can be quite expensive per individual volume.

Fair enough - but worth remembering with the Naxos series you get 1 symphony per disc (+ fillers of course), with Lyrita you get 2.  And they really are much finer performances and recordings.....

[vandermolen]

Fair enough - but worth remembering with the Naxos series you get 1 symphony per disc (+ fillers of course), with Lyrita you get 2.  And they really are much finer performances and recordings.....

The Lyritas are the ones to have I agree, although I don't consider Del Mar's recording of Symphony No.6 up to the same standard as the recording by Myer Fredman and Raymond Leppard of symphonies 1,2,5 and 7. A pity that they never recorded 3 and 4 because alternative LP recordings already existed.

[Scion7]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7iLxLO8KVU



0:)   take your vinyl to bed and read the liner notes - let it know you care . . .

[Irons]

The Lyritas are the ones to have I agree, although I don't consider Del Mar's recording of Symphony No.6 up to the same standard as the recording by Myer Fredman and Raymond Leppard of symphonies 1,2,5 and 7. A pity that they never recorded 3 and 4 because alternative LP recordings already existed.

Even the Decca discography echoes the point that Lyrita didn't record 3 & 4 as recordings already existed. Edward Downes of course recorded 3 for RCA. I have not actively searched for 4 so I do not doubt one is out there, but I have not come across a recording which is surprising and puzzled me for some time. Do you know of a pre-Lyrita stereo Bax 4, Jeffrey?

[André]

I have been struck by the rather obvious delian vein in some of Bax' more contemplative moments. The 2nd movement of the 3rd symphony for example, but also Summer Music (filler for the Lloyd-Jones recording of symphony no 6). It has Delius writ large all over it. Bax had the good sense to dedicate it to Beecham !

[Roasted Swan]

Even the Decca discography echoes the point that Lyrita didn't record 3 & 4 as recordings already existed. Edward Downes of course recorded 3 for RCA. I have not actively searched for 4 so I do not doubt one is out there, but I have not come across a recording which is surprising and puzzled me for some time. Do you know of a pre-Lyrita stereo Bax 4, Jeffrey?

The 1st Bax Symphony recorded was No.4 on Revolution Records by Vernon Handley and the Guildford PO



Fairly poor sound and just OK playing so not worth getting unless you are an absolute Bax completist - the Thomson/Ulster is the one to get!

[Biffo]

Even the Decca discography echoes the point that Lyrita didn't record 3 & 4 as recordings already existed. Edward Downes of course recorded 3 for RCA. I have not actively searched for 4 so I do not doubt one is out there, but I have not come across a recording which is surprising and puzzled me for some time. Do you know of a pre-Lyrita stereo Bax 4, Jeffrey?

There is a mono recording of No 4 from Barbirolli and the Halle. I have it as a download but unfortunately can't find any documentation to go with it and can't remember where I bought it. Barbirolli performed No 4 with the NYPO in November 1938. He only performed it twice but I can't find a reference for the second time.

Edit: The performance is available on YouTube but a note says it is actually Maurice Handford conducting as Barbirolli was away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9EsaXrpaDg

The metadata on the mp3 I have is incorrect. Still can't remember where it came from, possibly it was never officially published. It is a BBC recording dated 15.IX. 1965 so it is irrelevant to the discussion! Got there eventually.

[vandermolen]

Even the Decca discography echoes the point that Lyrita didn't record 3 & 4 as recordings already existed. Edward Downes of course recorded 3 for RCA. I have not actively searched for 4 so I do not doubt one is out there, but I have not come across a recording which is surprising and puzzled me for some time. Do you know of a pre-Lyrita stereo Bax 4, Jeffrey?

Yes Lol, as posted by RS above. I have the LP and CD - one of the few genuine releases (on CD) issued by the company which perpetrated the Joyce Hatto fraud (they added one of the fraudulent releases, as a freebie, to my order - something of a collector's item I guess). I rather like that performance by Handley and the Guildford PO, despite the somewhat boxed in sound - I am though, of course, a Bax completist  .

[Irons]

Thanks very much. Something that has puzzled me for some time - which 4th!

I do like the 4th which I believe the first Thomson symphony release. Bad enough on vinyl, but inexcusable that Chandos split the symphony over two CDs in the box set. I rectified that by investing (£5) in a LP issue. Money well spent.

[vandermolen]

Thanks very much. Something that has puzzled me for some time - which 4th!

I do like the 4th which I believe the first Thomson symphony release. Bad enough on vinyl, but inexcusable that Chandos split the symphony over two CDs in the box set. I rectified that by investing (£5) in a LP issue. Money well spent.

Yes, that was a fabulous release Lol. I've seen it argued that Chandos should have stuck with the Ulster Orchestra for the other Bax symphonies as No.4 is considered, by many, to be the most impressive of all those Bax cycle releases.

[Roasted Swan]

Yes, that was a fabulous release Lol. I've seen it argued that Chandos should have stuck with the Ulster Orchestra for the other Bax symphonies as No.4 is considered, by many, to be the most impressive of all those Bax cycle releases.

I did own at one time all the Revolution/Bax discs - which included the "authentic" Hatto/Symphonic Variations.  The Symphony was welcome when it was the only option but I struggled to get past the comedy Hammond organ they drafted in for the climactic moments.  It always conjured up a Monty Python-esque vision which rather detracted from the moment......

[Scion7]

What has been seen, cannot be unseen. (pours bleach on corneas .....)

[Roasted Swan]

Bleach has so many uses.... as the wise orange stable genius tells us

[vandermolen]

I did own at one time all the Revolution/Bax discs - which included the "authentic" Hatto/Symphonic Variations.  The Symphony was welcome when it was the only option but I struggled to get past the comedy Hammond organ they drafted in for the climactic moments.  It always conjured up a Monty Python-esque vision which rather detracted from the moment......

Also, the premiere of Bliss's 'Beatitudes' (re-located from New Coventry Cathedral to a cinema to make way for Britten's War Requiem - poor Bliss) suffered from the Curse of the Hammond Organ as well.

[Maestro267]

As we're here...

6, 2, 4, 7, 1, 3, 5

[Oates]

The 1st Bax Symphony recorded was No.4 on Revolution Records by Vernon Handley and the Guildford PO



Fairly poor sound and just OK playing so not worth getting unless you are an absolute Bax completist - the Thomson/Ulster is the one to get!

Can I get really anal / trivial and ask where the cover photo was taken?

[vandermolen]

Can I get really anal / trivial and ask where the cover photo was taken?

Not sure where my LP is but if I come across it I'll check the back cover just in case it mentions the location.

[André]

Check for this: Monsal Dale, Peak District, Derbyshire.

[vandermolen]

Check for this: Monsal Dale, Peak District, Derbyshire.

That looks right - well done André!
How did you find it?