Sir Arnold Bax

[vandermolen]

Agreed - on this Lloyd-Jones disc  "Summer Music" is just a joy.  Very untypical Bax - emotionally uncomplex and musically less convoluted than much he wrote but none the worse for that.  Interestingly in his catalogue the revised version (which is what we hear on disc) is adjacent to Symphony 5 but so different in its untroubled and idyllic (the original title of the 1921 work was "Idyll") world........

Because I like music which conveys a looming sense of catastrophe, I tend to gravitate away from works with titles like 'Summer Music' - totally irrational I know.

[relm1]

Because I like music which conveys a looming sense of catastrophe, I tend to gravitate away from works with titles like 'Summer Music' - totally irrational I know.

What work best embodies this "looming sense of catastrophe" to you from Bax?  From any other composer? 

[vandermolen]

What work best embodies this "looming sense of catastrophe" to you from Bax?  From any other composer?

Coda of Rachmaninov's 1st Symphony, Most of Bax's 2nd Symphony, especially the organ passage at the ending. I'll think of some more but need to get ready for work now. Bax's 6th Symphony as well, 1st Movement of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony.

[relm1]

Coda of Rachmaninov's 1st Symphony, Most of Bax's 2nd Symphony, especially the organ passage at the ending. I'll think of some more but need to get ready for work now. Bax's 6th Symphony as well, 1st Movement of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony.

Very interesting.  I hear Rach's No. 1 ending as despairing.  Bax's No. 2 as cataclysmic.  Shostakovich 11 1st movement as fragile, powerless.  Maybe it's ending as rageful vengeance. 

[vandermolen]

Interesting Baxian experience yesterday. In my short drive to work (8 minutes) Bax was on the radio there and back. 'Scherzo' (Handley) on my way in and 'The Garden of Fand' (Barbirolli) on my way home. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Garden of Fand, which I'd been quite dismissive of before, finding it a bit twee and 'precious'. I was quite wrong! It is a fine, poetic and atmospheric score.

[vandermolen]

Very interesting.  I hear Rach's No. 1 ending as despairing.  Bax's No. 2 as cataclysmic.  Shostakovich 11 1st movement as fragile, powerless.  Maybe it's ending as rageful vengeance.

That also makes good sense to me.

[kyjo]

Today, as befits the first day of snow here in my neck of the woods, I listened to Sir Arnold's Winter Legends for piano and orchestra from this recording:



It had been too long since I'd listened to this marvelously evocative score. I particularly love the vigorous, dance-like section about 8 or 9 minutes into the first movement with its catchy ostinati in the piano and tuned percussion. Another Bax trademark is very much in evidence throughout the work - an unusually prominent tuba part (something he shares in common with Prokofiev)! If Bax has one weakness, it's a tendency for his slow movements to be the least memorable portion of his works, but this one is by no means dull or uninteresting (it's better than some of his symphonic slow movements, IMO). But also not to be missed are the two shorter pieces on the disc (both for piano and orchestra) - the idyllic Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex) and the stirring Saga Fragment which was new to me - a strongly rhythmic, even aggressive work with prominent parts for trumpet and snare drum alongside the piano soloist. A highly recommended disc for all Baxians!

[vandermolen]

Today, as befits the first day of snow here in my neck of the woods, I listened to Sir Arnold's Winter Legends for piano and orchestra from this recording:



It had been too long since I'd listened to this marvelously evocative score. I particularly love the vigorous, dance-like section about 8 or 9 minutes into the first movement with its catchy ostinati in the piano and tuned percussion. Another Bax trademark is very much in evidence throughout the work - an unusually prominent tuba part (something he shares in common with Prokofiev)! If Bax has one weakness, it's a tendency for his slow movements to be the least memorable portion of his works, but this one is by no means dull or uninteresting (it's better than some of his symphonic slow movements, IMO). But also not to be missed are the two shorter pieces on the disc (both for piano and orchestra) - the idyllic Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex) and the stirring Saga Fragment which was new to me - a strongly rhythmic, even aggressive work with prominent parts for trumpet and snare drum alongside the piano soloist. A highly recommended disc for all Baxians!

Very nice Kyle! I must give this CD another listen to.

[relm1]

I listened to this album for the first time and thought quite highly of this output.  Very fine choral music.  Some of it reminded me of Holst's choral writing.

[Albion]

I have just finished listening to Vol. 5 of the Thompson series on Chandos:

All of these re-packaged Chandos "compilation" discs (9 volumes) from their previous recordings are just great, and you get a mix of Thomson and Handley - what could be better? They should put these in a lovely box. For the symphonies, many seem to prefer the David Lloyd Jones on Naxos over either of the Chandos cycles, but I'll stick with Vernon (and a couple by Bryden, especially in Nos.4, 5 and 7). The Bax discography is now enormous...

https://www.chandos.net/list/composer/Sir%20Arnold%20Bax/208008/s

[Symphonic Addict]

All of these re-packaged Chandos "compilation" discs (9 volumes) from their previous recordings are just great, and you get a mix of Thomson and Handley - what could be better? They should put these in a lovely box. For the symphonies, many seem to prefer the David Lloyd Jones on Naxos over either of the Chandos cycles, but I'll stick with Vernon (and a couple by Bryden, especially in Nos.4, 5 and 7). The Bax discography is now enormous...

https://www.chandos.net/list/composer/Sir%20Arnold%20Bax/208008/s

For me, the cycle that offers me the best qualities of the symphonies is Thomson/Chandos. Somehow, the atmosphere there is more cogent than in the other cycles.

[Albion]

For me, the cycle that offers me the best qualities of the symphonies is Thomson/Chandos. Somehow, the atmosphere there is more cogent than in the other cycles.

I've always loved what Bryden Thomson did for Chandos, as well as the decades of stunning broadcasts that he made for the BBC. Where would we be without his great Hamilton Harty recordings? He was wonderful in Daniel Jones, Nielsen and Martinu as well - now that shows his breadth. He is now often overlooked. His Vaughan Williams cycle was largely let down by Chandos' engineering but it's still serviceable. Again, in his Bax symphonies (but not the tone poems) I find myself distracted by the acoustic and loss of detail but the conceptions are marvellously sweeping and passionate. Swings and roundabouts: I (generally) find the Thomson recordings too washy and the Lloyd-Jones too dry, but I really like the sonics on the Handley. Let's face it, all three sets (aren't we so lucky to have so much) are great in their various ways - and when you add in the Lyrita discs...

 

[Symphonic Addict]

I've always loved what Bryden Thomson did for Chandos, as well as the decades of stunning broadcasts that he made for the BBC. Where would we be without his great Hamilton Harty recordings? He was wonderful in Daniel Jones, Nielsen and Martinu as well - now that shows his breadth. He is now often overlooked. His Vaughan Williams cycle was largely let down by Chandos' engineering but it's still serviceable. Again, in his Bax symphonies (but not the tone poems) I find myself distracted by the acoustic and loss of detail but the conceptions are marvellously sweeping and passionate. Swings and roundabouts: I (generally) find the Thomson recordings too washy and the Lloyd-Jones too dry, but I really like the sonics on the Handley. Let's face it, all three sets (aren't we so lucky to have so much) are great in their various ways - and when you add in the Lyrita discs...

 

I get your point about the acoustics in the Thomson cycle being be a disadvantage in relation to the others, and yes, he seems unbeatable in the tone poems. From the Naxos cycle, the 6th is the highlight. I'm not too familiar with the Handley set.

[vandermolen]

No.1 Fredman
No.2 Fredman
No.3 Downes (LP)
No.4 Thomson (I like the old Guildford Handley as well)
No.5 Leppard (in a class of its own)
No.6 Thomson or Lloyd Jones
No.7 Leppard (as with No.5)

[Albion]

No.1 Fredman
No.2 Fredman
No.3 Downes (LP)
No.4 Thomson (I like the old Guildford Handley as well)
No.5 Leppard (in a class of its own)
No.6 Thomson or Lloyd Jones
No.7 Leppard (as with No.5)

Great list! As I've somehow got through all those Holst discs which are all wonderful, it may well be Bax next but not the symphonies yet - tone poems I think (volumes 1-7 of the lovely Chandos compilations with Thomson and Handley). The music seems to suit these short days and long nights...

 

[Albion]

I wish that Chandos would repackage all their orchestral and choral Bax, minus the symphonies, in a single box (Thomson, Handley, Davis, Brabbins) and, yes, give us the two alternative Handley discs of tone poems as well (CHAN 10362 and CHAN 10446). Now THAT would be something...

 

[Albion]

My word, just re-negotiating the first volume of the Chandos discs mentioned above and isn't the Cello Concerto just glorious! This should be programmed (as should the Bliss Concerto) as often as the Elgar and the Walton, but it's not. Why? Simply because there seems to be a curse on the letter "B" when it comes to British music in the concert hall - Bantock, Brian, Bate, Boughton, Bax, Arthur Butterworth, Bowen, Bliss, Bax, Bush, Richard Rodney Bennett, etc. Only Britten seems to have escaped (and he's not played that often these days)...

 

[relm1]

No.1 Fredman
No.2 Fredman
No.3 Downes (LP)
No.4 Thomson (I like the old Guildford Handley as well)
No.5 Leppard (in a class of its own)
No.6 Thomson or Lloyd Jones
No.7 Leppard (as with No.5)

What do you think of Goossens No. 2?

[Albion]

I really need to sort my CDs out: I just hunted high and low for half an hour convinced that I had Andrew Davis' "Four Orchestral Pieces", "Phantasy for Viola" and the "Overture, Elegy and Rondo" (CHAN 10829). I eventually discovered it hiding on a miscellaneous shelf for no apparent reason. I'm chaotic at the best of times, but plonking a Bax disc in the midst of compilation albums? I have no idea what was going on there. Anyway, it's now added to the pile along with Handley's "Concertante for Piano Left Hand", "In Memoriam", "The Bard of Dimbovitza" (CHAN 9715) and Brabbins' "London Pageant", "Concertante", "Tamara" and "Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan" (CHAN 9879). Too much Bax? Er, nope...

 

[Roasted Swan]

My word, just re-negotiating the first volume of the Chandos discs mentioned above and isn't the Cello Concerto just glorious! This should be programmed (as should the Bliss Concerto) as often as the Elgar and the Walton, but it's not. Why? Simply because there seems to be a curse on the letter "B" when it comes to British music in the concert hall - Bantock, Brian, Bate, Boughton, Bax, Arthur Butterworth, Bowen, Bliss, Bax, Bush, Richard Rodney Bennett, etc. Only Britten seems to have escaped (and he's not played that often these days)...

 

Every cloud......