Sir Arnold Bax

[vandermolen]

I've recently been listening to one of my very favourite lesser-known symphonies - Symphony No 1 by the Estonian composer Kaljo Raid - in many instances it reminded me of Bax (as well as the music of his compatriot Tubin, whose 11th Symphony opening movement Raid completed after Tubin's death) - if you like Bax it is well worth hearing this dramatic, memorable and moving symphony (it's on the Chandos label).

Here it is, but you can still find the original Chandos single CD release (Volume 1) inexpensively on Amazon.

[Mirror Image]

I've recently been listening to one of my very favourite lesser-known symphonies - Symphony No 1 by the Estonian composer Kaljo Raid - in many instances it reminded me of Bax (as well as the music of his compatriot Tubin, whose 11th Symphony opening movement Raid completed after Tubin's death) - if you like Bax it is well worth hearing this dramatic, memorable and moving symphony (it's on the Chandos label).

Here it is, but you can still find the original Chandos single CD release (Volume 1) inexpensively on Amazon.

I own the entire Tubin series with Jarvi on BIS.

[schweitzeralan]

I'd like to claim the review as a great literary achivement - but in fact anyone can put a review on the Amazon site! Glad you like Butterworth - me too. It quotes directly from Sibelius' The Tempest, but it all seems integrated and the ending has me on the edge of my seat. Try the Bate if you can.  No 4 not recorded yet,but hopefully Dutton will do it. Do you know Arnell's symphonies on Dutton? Nos 3-5 are superb works - very Baxian/Sibelian/Moerenian etc

Don't yet have anything by Arnell yet but wanted to write and acknowledge to you my interest in Arthur butterworth.  I've come to like very much Butterworth's 4th.  I just bought the B. 5th Symphony.  Love the Sibelian, Baxian language.  The 4th also smacks a little of  Nielson. Very dramatic. The 4th tends to be more ensconced and flavored with color than the 5th; yet both are finely conceived and developed symphonic pleasures.

[vandermolen]

Don't yet have anything by Arnell yet but wanted to write and acknowledge to you my interest in Arthur butterworth.  I've come to like very much Butterworth's 4th.  I just bought the B. 5th Symphony.  Love the Sibelian, Baxian language.  The 4th also smacks a little of  Nielson. Very dramatic. The 4th tends to be more ensconced and flavored with color than the 5th; yet both are finely conceived and developed symphonic pleasures.

Thanks - very much agree with you here. Butterworth's 4th has been a great recent discovery and I am getting into No 5 now.

[Scarpia]

Bax Violin Concerto, a work well worth hearing (the Chandos recording). 

The first movement is a three-part affair, a vigorous overture, followed by a lyrical ballade, ending with a scherzo.  The piece is lacking in violin pyrotechnics, and sometimes the solo instrument seems to be overwhelmed by the orchestral outbursts that come and go, but lots of engaging interplay between soloist and orchestra.   I tend to get a bit lost in the second movement, but the final is somewhat similar to the first movement, in that it alternates vigorous passages.  If the work has a weakness is may be that Bax does not define a unique mood for each movement that contrasts in a recognizable way with the other movements.

[Lethevich]

I'm glad you enjoyed the concerto. It's one of those uneasy fringe works - confidently written and with much to say, but as with the Moeran violin concerto (which given how little the Bax is mentioned, consensus seems to mildly prefer) its memorability does not quite match its ambition. I agree that the first movement grabs the attention, then the piece wanes somewhat - but at the same time it's still a substential and mature concerto by a composer who I greatly enjoy and on paper it seems to tick all the boxes. This calls for a shrug emoticon...

[Brian]

I'm glad you enjoyed the concerto. It's one of those uneasy fringe works - confidently written and with much to say, but as with the Moeran violin concerto (which given how little the Bax is mentioned, consensus seems to mildly prefer) its memorability does not quite match its ambition. I agree that the first movement grabs the attention, then the piece wanes somewhat - but at the same time it's still a substential and mature concerto by a composer who I greatly enjoy and on paper it seems to tick all the boxes. This calls for a shrug emoticon...

You're back!!!
Don't think me a creeper but I was really worried about how long we had gone Lethe-free.

[Sergeant Rock]

You're back!!!
Don't think me a creeper but I was really worried about how long we had gone Lethe-free.

And now we can finally clear up the mystery: Lethe: goofy girl or guy in drag? 

Seriously, Sara, welcome back. You've been missed.

Sarge

[SonicMan46]

Hi Sara - glad to see that green status light next to your name! 

Glad that you've returned - Dave

[Lethevich]

Danke, all. I don't want to derail this thread too much (any other composer would be fine, but not my beloved Bax) - I can't believe that I am seriously considering skim-reading every page of What Are You Listening To?. Insanity, yes - but what if I miss something important?

[Bulldog]

Danke, all. I don't want to derail this thread too much (any other composer would be fine, but not my beloved Bax) - I can't believe that I am seriously considering skim-reading every page of What Are You Listening To?. Insanity, yes - but what if I miss something important?

Look at it as all the things you will miss while wasting your time reading every page.

[Opus106]

Diverted from the Bug Report thread

Well, the violin sonatas were very nice, more late Romantic than that angular 20th century sort of sound. Some of that, of course, but not like Bloch for example. If you can go one step beyond Dvorak then you can handle Bax easily, and maybe even like him. I don't like symphonies anyway (with some exceptions, of course), so liking or not liking his doesn't matter to me much.

It isn't quite the angular sound* that I found difficult with the work, I simply couldn't see it "going" anywhere. Thanks for the recs. on the chamber music. Will give those a listen.



*Please try to refrain from using the A-word in front the Aton... er, you-know-who, for your own good. 

[Lethevich]

It's that lack of traditional structural logic that is the problem most people have with Bax, I think (I also have this problem with some of his pieces). While harmonically he is distinctive, he is by no means difficult in that respect. The usual waypoints are certainly there in his music, but they don't really stand out very strongly, often because his idea of sonata form is often heavily modified (it reminds me of Liszt's sonata in B minor, in that respect), and his colouristic interests sometimes overrule the default classico-Romantic instinct to produce standard segmented and developed sections. Where composers like Brahms might expertly tweak at sonata form, occasionally Bax smears it - but it's certainly still there, and in its own way often quite tightly written.

[vandermolen]

BBC Music Magazine this month (April 2011) has a nice profile of Bax and some CD recommendations.

[vandermolen]

Following the enthusiastic response to my last posting on Bax I thought that I'd include my (current) list of favourite recordings of the Bax symphonies - I'm sure that you'll all agree with my choices. 

Symphony No 1: Myer Fredman LPO (Lyrita)

Symphony No 2: Myer Fredman LPO (Lyrita)

Symphony No 3: Edward Downes LSO (RCA - never issued on CD - a scandal of the first magnitude - a very underrated performance)

Symphony No 4: Bryden Thomson Ulster Orchestra (Chandos - in a class of its own)

Symphony No 5: Raymond Leppard LPO (Lyrita)

Symphony No 6: Norman Del Mar New Philharmonia (Lyrita) - a more difficult choice as Bryden Thomson's Chandos recording and Lloyd-Jones's Naxos version are also excellent.

Symphony No 7: Raymond Leppard LPO (Lyrita - more moving than any other version).

No one will be disappointed with Vernon Handley's excellent Chandos box set but, as with his Vaughan Williams cycle I would not choose any of them as a first choice. Also, Goossen's historical recording of Bax's Symphony No 2 on Dutton is an essential supplement. The Bryden Thomson box set is also IMHO much better than has often been suggested.

[eyeresist]

I see you are going with the tried-and-true lot. For me, I'm happy with the Lloyd-Jones set. I bought the Lyrita CD of 1 and 7, but still preferred the Naxos, despite the sound issues. I prefer L-J's straight-ahead approach to Fredman's playing with the tempos, and he seems to me to have digested 7 more fully than Leppard (still not satisfied with the finale though). Bear in mind I haven't listened to that disc for a while.

[vandermolen]

I see you are going with the tried-and-true lot. For me, I'm happy with the Lloyd-Jones set. I bought the Lyrita CD of 1 and 7, but still preferred the Naxos, despite the sound issues. I prefer L-J's straight-ahead approach to Fredman's playing with the tempos, and he seems to me to have digested 7 more fully than Leppard (still not satisfied with the finale though). Bear in mind I haven't listened to that disc for a while.

Thanks - I think that Lloyd-Jones on Naxos is excellent too - in fact Bax is well-served on disc. I have all the Naxos issues and must listen again - I liked No 7 with Tintagel, a great disc. there is also a nice Naxos issue with the lovely Harp Quintet and other chamber works.

[vandermolen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/august-16/50

[Daverz]

Symphony No 3: Edward Downes LSO (RCA - never issued on CD - a scandal of the first magnitude - a very underrated performance)

Here's a transfer from the Lp:

http://themusicparlour.blogspot.com/2011/03/edward-downes-london-symphony-orchestra.html

I haven't heard it yet.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Here's a transfer from the Lp:

http://themusicparlour.blogspot.com/2011/03/edward-downes-london-symphony-orchestra.html

I haven't heard it yet.

Terrific site!! And thanks for the link (Jeffrey will undoubtedly come back to you and say he owns that LP...)