Sir Arnold Bax

[Biffo]

There is a "cleaned-up" version of the Downes LP on YouTube from him now as well.  I remember my old LP copy having real pressing issues - weren't those RCA Gold Label discs pressed in Italy or something on pretty dodgy vinyl?  I never owned the original 'red label' release.  I didn't realise a the time that most of the RCA engineering/production in the UK was done for them by Decca which is why technically they were well recorded.  I downloaded the YouTube recording so at least I have an OK - if low bit rate - representation of that disc now.

For whatever reason (poor distribution in the UK?) I didn't buy many RCA LPs. I only have two Gold Seal discs - Walton Symphony No 1/Previn and Kodaly Hary Janos etc/Leinsdorf. Both are labelled 'Manufactured by RCA Limited England and from master recordings'. I haven't listened to either disc for years but don't recall any problems.

[vandermolen]

For whatever reason (poor distribution in the UK?) I didn't buy many RCA LPs. I only have two Gold Seal discs - Walton Symphony No 1/Previn and Kodaly Hary Janos etc/Leinsdorf. Both are labelled 'Manufactured by RCA Limited England and from master recordings'. I haven't listened to either disc for years but don't recall any problems.

OT
I really like your avatar image Biffo!

[Biffo]

OT
I really like your avatar image Biffo!

Thanks! It is by Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914); it is a bear sleeping amongst blueberries.

[vandermolen]

Thanks! It is by Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914); it is a bear sleeping amongst blueberries.

Interesting - thanks. At first I thought it was Winnie-the-Pooh taking a nap! I'll look up the artist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Kittelsen

I really like his paintings and drawings.

[Biffo]

Interesting - thanks. At first I thought it was Winnie-the-Pooh taking a nap! I'll look up the artist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Kittelsen

I really like his paintings and drawings.

I am sure by now you have seen they range from the ravishingly beautiful to the grotesquely horrible (like my previous avatar).

[Roasted Swan]

Tjeknavorian's LSO/RCA LP of Khachaturian's First Symphony, which never made it to CD, is incomparably better than his later recording on ASV.

Apologies for going (briefly) off-thread - you've mentioned that Khatchaturian No.1 before - I never heard/owned it on LP - but a transfer is on YouTube;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE6t0E5WCSw

listening now........

[vandermolen]

I am sure by now you have seen they range from the ravishingly beautiful to the grotesquely horrible (like my previous avatar).

OT
Indeed. This is one of his I think:

[vandermolen]

Apologies for going (briefly) off-thread - you've mentioned that Khatchaturian No.1 before - I never heard/owned it on LP - but a transfer is on YouTube;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE6t0E5WCSw

listening now........

OT
Thanks.
It's by far the best performance on disc.

[Roasted Swan]

I am sure by now you have seen they range from the ravishingly beautiful to the grotesquely horrible (like my previous avatar).

I scrolled though the link you sent - I was reminded very strongly of a favourite book of mine as a child - The Tomten



NOT illustrated by Kittelsen obviously but goodness me the infuence on illustrator Harald Wiberg is clear!

[Biffo]

OT
Indeed. This is one of his I think:

It was this recording where I first encountered Kittelesen

[Roasted Swan]

Today it was announced via one of the Bax online forums that Graham Parlett has died.  For those who don't know, Parlett was the great living authority on Bax's music.  Even more than Lewis Foreman who wrote the main extended Bax biography, Parlett was the practical musician who facilitated performances of many Bax scores through his careful editing and often orchestrating of manuscript scores.  Additionally his catalogue of Bax's work is as important in the context of this composer as any equivalent listing and is unlikely to ever be surpassed. 




Graham Scott-Sutherland (himself a considerable Bax expert) wrote in a reivew of the catalogue;  "Dr Parlett here enters the lists with Köchel, Kirkpatrick and Robbins Landon with this scholarly production, listing some 386 compositions  - complete not only with details of scoring, dates of composition and  performance, duration, dedicatee(s), whereabouts of manuscripts and  publication, but also accounts of the score paper used. In addition there are readable and informative notes which, unlike many academic treatises brimming with such information, are tempered with an in-sight born of years of study into the human subject. These make the whole volume an engrossing read - a history of a man's acheivement.

The listings of the music (in chronological order,) occupy some 250 pages - the remainder cataloguing Bax's own literary work as 'Dermot O'Byrne' -which is considerable- a discography, bibliography and several useful indices, all prefaced by a thoughtful - even thought-provoking - introduction. There follow ten pages of preliminary notes providing a guide to the layout which, given the extent and nature of Bax's output could easily have become a maze. The book is handsomely produced, the cover with a strong portrait of the sixty-year-old composer by Howard Coster and, despite the price, worth every penny and indispensable not only to those who wish to study the music, but in particular to those who are sensitive to the uniquely phantasmagoric world of Bax.


As the poster on the Bax forum put it; with Parlett's passing a massive and as yet not fully appreciated resource on the life and works of Bax has closed.  It is hard to stress quite what a shopck and loss this is to those who hold Bax's music dear.  Parlett had only been diagnosed earlier this year with motor neurone disease so his death is shockingly quick and must be especially sad for his family and relatives.

I had one dealing with him when I wanted an amateur orchestra I conducted to play Cathleen ni Hoolihan.  He was instrumental and key in getting the BBC PO to allow us use the orchestral parts that he had prepared for their recording.  We later were looking at performing a series of piano and orchestra movements (prior to Parlett completing the Piano Concertino) and although it never came to fruition my memory is of his understated genius and friendly helpfulness.  Every composer needs and deserves a musicologist of Parlett's stature to promote their work.....

[relm1]

Today it was announced via one of the Bax online forums that Graham Parlett has died.  For those who don't know, Parlett was the great living authority on Bax's music.  Even more than Lewis Foreman who wrote the main extended Bax biography, Parlett was the practical musician who facilitated performances of many Bax scores through his careful editing and often orchestrating of manuscript scores.  Additionally his catalogue of Bax's work is as important in the context of this composer as any equivalent listing and is unlikely to ever be surpassed. 




Graham Scott-Sutherland (himself a considerable Bax expert) wrote in a reivew of the catalogue;  "Dr Parlett here enters the lists with Köchel, Kirkpatrick and Robbins Landon with this scholarly production, listing some 386 compositions  - complete not only with details of scoring, dates of composition and  performance, duration, dedicatee(s), whereabouts of manuscripts and  publication, but also accounts of the score paper used. In addition there are readable and informative notes which, unlike many academic treatises brimming with such information, are tempered with an in-sight born of years of study into the human subject. These make the whole volume an engrossing read - a history of a man's acheivement.

The listings of the music (in chronological order,) occupy some 250 pages - the remainder cataloguing Bax's own literary work as 'Dermot O'Byrne' -which is considerable- a discography, bibliography and several useful indices, all prefaced by a thoughtful - even thought-provoking - introduction. There follow ten pages of preliminary notes providing a guide to the layout which, given the extent and nature of Bax's output could easily have become a maze. The book is handsomely produced, the cover with a strong portrait of the sixty-year-old composer by Howard Coster and, despite the price, worth every penny and indispensable not only to those who wish to study the music, but in particular to those who are sensitive to the uniquely phantasmagoric world of Bax.


As the poster on the Bax forum put it; with Parlett's passing a massive and as yet not fully appreciated resource on the life and works of Bax has closed.  It is hard to stress quite what a shopck and loss this is to those who hold Bax's music dear.  Parlett had only been diagnosed earlier this year with motor neurone disease so his death is shockingly quick and must be especially sad for his family and relatives.

I had one dealing with him when I wanted an amateur orchestra I conducted to play Cathleen ni Hoolihan.  He was instrumental and key in getting the BBC PO to allow us use the orchestral parts that he had prepared for their recording.  We later were looking at performing a series of piano and orchestra movements (prior to Parlett completing the Piano Concertino) and although it never came to fruition my memory is of his understated genius and friendly helpfulness.  Every composer needs and deserves a musicologist of Parlett's stature to promote their work.....

I love his completion of Piano Concertino.  Sounds like a wonderful chap.  Sorry to hear he died. RIP. 

[vandermolen]

I love his completion of Piano Concertino.  Sounds like a wonderful chap.  Sorry to hear he died. RIP.

Sad news indeed.

[foxandpeng]

Sad news indeed.

+1

[vandermolen]

World Premiere of Symphony 7 (NY 1939, Boult):
http://www.colinscolumn.com/new-on-youtube-today-the-premiere-performance-of-sir-arnold-baxs-symphony-no-7/

[vandermolen]

Just discovered Bax's extraordinary 'Legend' - a entirely characteristic work that seems to cover a lot of ground in 10 minutes. It starts with a marvellously gloomy ostinato opening for piano alone - not to be missed by Bax fans:

[foxandpeng]

Just discovered Bax's extraordinary 'Legend' - a entirely characteristic work that seems to cover a lot of ground in 10 minutes. It starts with a marvellously gloomy ostinato opening for piano alone - not to be missed by Bax fans:

This is lovely, thank you. I am now back in the resounding brass of Symphony 1 with DLJ as a consequence.

[Roasted Swan]

Just discovered Bax's extraordinary 'Legend' - a entirely characteristic work that seems to cover a lot of ground in 10 minutes. It starts with a marvellously gloomy ostinato opening for piano alone - not to be missed by Bax fans:

The Viola Legend is a great piece for sure.  Alongside Grainger's solo viola "Arrival Platform Humlet" I played it a couple of times for auditions for orchestras!

[foxandpeng]

The Viola Legend is a great piece for sure.  Alongside Grainger's solo viola "Arrival Platform Humlet" I played it a couple of times for auditions for orchestras!

Actually, I'm assuming it is the same piece as this one, which is the version I have?  Haunting viola, ever present piano line, running at about 9.50?

Bax packs in so much emotion in these shorter pieces.

[Roasted Swan]

Actually, I'm assuming it is the same piece as this one, which is the version I have?  Haunting viola, ever present piano line, running at about 9.50?

Bax packs in so much emotion in these shorter pieces.

it is!