Sir Arnold Bax

[Roasted Swan]

Alot of times these "corrections" are already incorporated.  For example, the players have corrected the part, maybe the conductor corrected the full score, but the official version still doesn't have that correction because it was done in 1909 or something.  So, someone going through and catching up on all these details are corrections, but I doubt anyone will notice most of these.  I saw that the Mahler society issued new performance edition of his Symphony No. 4 with 700 corrections for example in 2022.  The year earlier, they did the same for his No. 5 with similar number of corrections.  That's a lot of corrections but with millions of notes, it's still 99.999% unchanged. 

Something to consider - when a score and parts is "hire only" there is often a requirement for the orchestral librarian to erase any marking added to a part post performance/before the music is returned to the publisher.  That being the case you can have the slightly absurd situation that known errors in parts are being re-corrected every time the set of parts is used.  As I said in my post above and as you allude to - "corrections" in new and nominally definitive editions are really about standardising in print much of what is already known.  It is much much rarer that something substantial - a chord or a note - is completely changed having been found to be "wrong".  Of course that does happen - my favourite is the pitches of the taxi horns in "An American in Paris".

[Luke]

my favourite is the pitches of the taxi horns in "An American in Paris".

You mean they had the wrong wrong notes? 


(My favourite car horn piece....

)

[Roasted Swan]

You mean they had the wrong wrong notes? 


(My favourite car horn piece....

)

As I understand it - the horns were simply given letters to indicate an order; A, B, C, D.  Somewhere down the line this became the actual pitches.... see this article.....

https://arts.umich.edu/news-features/taxi-horn-controversy-in-an-american-in-paris/#:~:text=The%20taxi%20horns%20on%20this,a%20third%20below%20middle%20C).

[Luke]

As I understand it - the horns were simply given letters to indicate an order; A, B, C, D.

Gershwin: the missing link between Varèse*, Feldman and Cage! Thanks for the link, that'll be an interesting read.

* Un Parisien en Amérique(s). Actually Varèse's siren-ridden piece of modernist mayhem predates Gershwin's by two years, so who knows

[vandermolen]

For the first time in goodness how long I properly listened to this famous recording/CD;



If, like me, you started listening to Bax in the 1970's (or earlier) then the Lyrita recordings of the symphonies (except for 3 & 4) were the only available route into hearing these works domestically.  So, no surprise that I am so familiar with these works in these performances - every extra little creak or rumble is as recognisable to me as the actual notes.  Because they resonate so deeply I find it hard to assess the performances objectively.  But in a spirit of trying to do this this time I have to say they impress me all over again.  There is a logic and flow to the interpretations that seems to find a good balance between the Baxian extremes of langour and dynamic energy.  The LPO play this very demanding music with remarkable skill and musical awareness.  Technically these remain astonishingly fine.  Famously Richard Itter of Lyrita used Decca's recording team and equipment (producer David harvey and engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Stanley Goodall) and what struck me strongly this time is just how sophisticated these 1970/71 recordings are - detailed, excellent internal balances, opulent, wide dynamic range etc etc.  But interestingly not as self-conciously "hi-fi" as Decca's own in-house recordings from much the same time.  For me, still the versions by which any other performance must be judged.

I've known Leppard's recording of the 5th Symphony since it appeared on LP in the 1970's. It has never been rivaled.

[KevinP]

Some time back, never having really heard Bax, I decided to tackle him and bought his Naxos symphonies box.

I got as far as number 2.

That may sound like I gave up, but no. I keep playing the hell out of no.2 and for some reason don't move on.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

That may sound like I gave up, but no. I keep playing the hell out of no.2 and for some reason don't move on.

The 2nd was the first Bax symphony I heard (Naxos also). I liked it too, but the 3rd is my current and steady fave. (Mind you, I haven't heard 'em all.) I like 5 about as much as 2. I never much liked 6, even though it seems to be a critical favorite.

Still haven't seriously listened to the others.

[Maestro267]

Anyone else have the Eric Parkin set of Bax piano works? Disc 3 on Windows Media Player has the tracks in the wrong order compared to the CD cover and as I am unfamiliar with the music idk if the music is right but the track names on WMP are wrong or something else. I tried looking for a performance on YT to compare to but nothing came up.

[Roasted Swan]

Hi

Here is a screen grab of the tracks and titles in the correct order.  Haven't checked against the CD or other listings but know this is correct

[Maestro267]

This is how mine looks. I have found the volume as it appears on Spotify so I'll just compare the music on that to the disc to know if I have the correct works or not.

[vandermolen]

The 2nd was the first Bax symphony I heard (Naxos also). I liked it too, but the 3rd is my current and steady fave. (Mind you, I haven't heard 'em all.) I like 5 about as much as 2. I never much liked 6, even though it seems to be a critical favorite.

Still haven't seriously listened to the others.

Agree about No.6 which I enjoy, but not as much as the others. 5 is probably my favourite followed by 3.

[Luke]

Anyone else have the Eric Parkin set of Bax piano works? Disc 3 on Windows Media Player has the tracks in the wrong order compared to the CD cover and as I am unfamiliar with the music idk if the music is right but the track names on WMP are wrong or something else. I tried looking for a performance on YT to compare to but nothing came up.

I have the Parkin set on CD but can't check right now. Will try to get back to you.

[Maestro267]

The problem seems to be resolved. I compared the music on my disc to that on Spotify and the track titles were just mixed up on WMP. Roasted Swan's screengrab is correct.

[Roasted Swan]

The problem seems to be resolved. I compared the music on my disc to that on Spotify and the track titles were just mixed up on WMP. Roasted Swan's screengrab is correct.

Tah-Dah!!

[Irons]

An insightful assessment of Bax by a fellow composer and friend.

https://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2024/10/eric-coatess-tribute-to-arnold-bax.html

[Roasted Swan]

A new Arnold Bax Society has been launched

https://sirarnoldbaxsociety.com/home

membership is just £36 pa.  The "listen" page brings together many of the off-air recording from YouTube but great to have them all in one place.  Richard Adams seems to be the driving force.  I'll be signing up!!

[vandermolen]

A new Arnold Bax Society has been launched

https://sirarnoldbaxsociety.com/home

membership is just £36 pa.  The "listen" page brings together many of the off-air recording from YouTube but great to have them all in one place.  Richard Adams seems to be the driving force.  I'll be signing up!!

Good news although there seems to be access to the music without signing up!
Maybe they'll get the Downes LSO recording of the 3rd Symphony finally released on CD!

[Roasted Swan]

Good news although there seems to be access to the music without signing up!
Maybe they'll get the Downes LSO recording of the 3rd Symphony finally released on CD!

Yes - there's no "pay wall" to the bulk of the material but apparently there is/will be a "members area" for some content.

[Luke]

Literally just bought this in Saffron Walden  (now sitting in coffee shop next door flicking through) by Arnie's brother Cliff. A book about my home county. Beautiful illustrations, too (Griggs is great). The church in the illustration there is Thaxted, just down the road from here, where Holst lived and worked.

[Irons]

A new Arnold Bax Society has been launched

https://sirarnoldbaxsociety.com/home

membership is just £36 pa.  The "listen" page brings together many of the off-air recording from YouTube but great to have them all in one place.  Richard Adams seems to be the driving force.  I'll be signing up!!

Many thanks for this. Enjoyed listening to Violin Concerto and reading Bax bio this morning.