Sir Arnold Bax

[Roasted Swan]

Nice!  It has a French quality to it.

I agree - it was written before Bax entered his Celtic "legendary" phase.  The earlier works are often kind of impressionistic.....

[cilgwyn]

It's really heart warming to see people appreciating Bax's music here. Bax having been one of my favourite composers since I was a teenager I was more than a little mortified when I was informed,in as reply to a post on another forum,that his music "lacked personality"   ! It occurred to me that I could say the same of Stanford and York Bowen,but I'm a polite person!  

[Daverz]

It's really heart warming to see people appreciating Bax's music here. Bax having been one of my favourite composers since I was a teenager I was more than a little mortified when I was informed,in as reply to a post on another forum,that his music "lacked personality"   ! It occurred to me that I could say the same of Stanford and York Bowen,but I'm a polite person!  

They seem to have things flipped.  Bax's music usually has a strong and consistent "face"   

[Roasted Swan]

It's really heart warming to see people appreciating Bax's music here. Bax having been one of my favourite composers since I was a teenager I was more than a little mortified when I was informed,in as reply to a post on another forum,that his music "lacked personality"   ! It occurred to me that I could say the same of Stanford and York Bowen,but I'm a polite person!  

To the bolded - me too! Any flaws that might exist in Bax's music are precisely due to his personality (musical or otherwise) rather than any lack of it......

[vandermolen]

Thanks to one of the Bax forums on Facebook and the work of folk who make the effort and take the time to post to YouTube here is a real recorded rarity;

Bax fans are ever in the debt of Myer Fredman for his wonderful Lyrita recordings of the 1st & 2nd Symphonies.  But I had no clue he'd made this commercial LP of No.3 as well (this transfer is a very good one from a pretty mint LP pressing).  TBH not at the level of the Lyrita discs but a delight to hear another take on this great work.

This sounds v good. Pity its not on CD

[kyjo]

It's really heart warming to see people appreciating Bax's music here. Bax having been one of my favourite composers since I was a teenager I was more than a little mortified when I was informed,in as reply to a post on another forum,that his music "lacked personality"   ! It occurred to me that I could say the same of Stanford and York Bowen,but I'm a polite person!  

Just goes to show how quickly some are to dismiss composers they're not very familiar with (particularly English ones). I can understand that some might view Bax's music as too diffuse, etc. (I would describe a few of his pieces as such ) but there's no denying that he possessed a strong and instantly recognizable individual voice as a composer, particularly regarding his shape-shifting chromatic harmonies, a melodic style often influenced by Irish/Celtic folk music, and his colorfully evocative orchestration.

[Irons]

A marvellous written appreciation of Bax which is just as relevant today as when it was written, possibly more so.

https://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2025/11/arnold-bax-peter-pan-of-music-part-i.html

Sprinkle just enough pepper to bring out the taste. Love it!