Spring Fire, the newest release from SOMM Recordings, highlights the complete music for cello and piano by Arnold Bax (1883-1953), with Alexander Baillie, recognized as one of the finest cellists of his generation, and pianist John Thwaites, his long-time musical partner. The Baillie-Thwaites Duo has capitalized on concert performances of the greatest twentieth-century British music over the last decade, and, with this recording, continues it's enduring partnership with SOMM. The release takes it's title from an early masterpiece by Bax, Spring Fire, a Symphony for Orchestra�from 1913. Coming from a particularly fruitful period when Bax wrote a series of symphonic poems of consistently high quality, it may well have been inspired by his love for the beautiful young pianist Harriet Cohen. Theirs was a passionate love affair and a fertile artistic partnership that lasted forty years. Through force of circumstance, not least of which was World War I, Spring Fire was never performed during Bax's lifetime; but he repurposed the haunting melody from it's opening movement, In the forest before dawn, for the slow movement of the Cello Sonata in E flat minor. Performances of this three-movement Cello Sonata are vanishingly rare, which makes the present release all the more important. The recording opens with a little-known gem, the Folk-Tale for cello and piano. It is a gorgeous work dedicated to the English cellist, Felix Salmond, who gave the first performance at Wigmore Hall on 27 April 1918 with Bax at the piano. The first two works on this disc are linked to a fantasy world, while the last two are written with formal clarity and concision. In 1933, Bax dedicated his Sonatina for Cello to the legendary cellist, Pablo Casals, and it fulfils it's slight brief with barely a repeated note. The Legend-Sonata was commissioned by and dedicated to the English cellist Florence Hooton. She gave the premiere at Wigmore Hall on 10 November 1943 with Bax's muse and lover, Harriet Cohen, as the pianist. The sweeping survey of twentieth-century cello repertoire that the Baillie-Thwaites duo has undertaken for SOMM includes a double CD of Twentieth-Century Sonatas for Cello and Piano (SOMMCD 251-2) and The British Cello (SOMMCD 0175). The Observer has praised "Baillie's rewardingly intelligent playing... matched by Thwaites's warm, generous, perfectly judged pianism;" and BBC Music Magazine says "It isn't just the excellence of Alexander Baillie's and John Thwaites's playing, but that they invest each work with the power of utter belief." This CD is dedicated to the memory of the Bax scholar Graham Parlett, who, in preparation for this recording, supported the UK performances of these works given by the Baillie-Thwaites duo. Henry Purcell was at the height of his powers at the time of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which saw King William III and his wife Queen Mary II crowned as joint British monarchs. Queen Mary was an avid lover of dance, which led to it being a regular and expected part of Restoration theatrical productions. Purcell's first great operatic work, Dido and Aeneas from the late 1680s, included no less than seventeen original dances. Purcell wrote in every form-ranging from theatre and church to concerts and balls-and his music dominated public demand in almost every genre. His success led to requests for music of all kinds, particularly dance movements, either singly or forming parts of suites for the keyboard. At the time, there was a growing fashion for French keyboard music, and Purcell willingly accepted the structural influences from that school. And yet, his music remained infused with the individual expression of an undoubtedly English composer. Tragically, Purcell died at the peak of his career on 21 November 1695 at his home in London. He is believed to have been 35 or 36 years old at the time.�A year after his death, Purcell's widow, Frances, posthumously published A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinet. These eight suites, long overshadowed by his more celebrated theatre works, are the core of Purcell's keyboard output, shifting from major to minor keys, from humour to seriousness, to create a uniquely expressive musical world. The suites incorporate French dance forms like the Almand, Corante, and Minuet, and the Spanish Saraband, which Purcell imbued with a quintessentially British idiom. This finds particular expression in movements like a Corante that deftly incorporates tunes from Ireland and Scotland; a brilliant Jigg that seems to catch the listener unawares; and a burly Hornpipe that draws on earlier incidental music. Cristian Sandrin intersperses Purcell's posthumously published eight keyboard suites with occasional additions from other works, and his recital concludes with the beautiful Sefauchi's Farewell. Purcell was deeply impressed on hearing one of the greatest of all castrati, the Italian 'Sefauchi' (Giovanni Francesco Grossi), in London. This keyboard work is a tribute from one noble musician to another.

Bax, who died in 1953, is now enjoying something of a renaissance and featuring in more concert programmes and record listings than ever before. His popularity is largely due to Chandos. These chamber works are new to the catalogue and to my ear, although Max Harrison in his review of the LP has reminded us that the tuneful String Quartet No. 1 was available on 78s. Here they are all recorded quite distantly in a decidedly non-chamber acoustic but nicely balanced and very listenable, it being easily possible to follow any of the instrumentalists at will.

-- Gramophone [4/1987]

BAX: Orchestral Works, Vol. 8

2 discs for the price of 1!

Sir Andrew Davis is among the most distinguished interpreters of British music today and here turns to the works of Sir Arnold Bax. With the inclusion of the Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra, this album marks the completion of Chandos’s long project to record Bax’s complete orchestral music over time.

Born in 1883 into a wealthy family in London, Arnold Bax began a love affair with Ireland as a young man. He moved there in 1911 and his Four Orchestral Pieces from 1912 – 13 are deeply influenced by the landscape of the countryside near his Dublin home. The first three are better known in revised versions, from 1928, as Three Pieces for Small Orchestra. Here ‘The Dance of Wild Irravel’ joins the other three movements for the premiere recording of the four Pieces as Bax originally conceived and orchestrated them.

The Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra from 1920 was inspired by the strong feelings with which Bax responded to the Irish political turmoil at the time, underlined by his use of the Sinn Fein Marching Song (later the Irish national anthem) at its climax. Bax is celebrated for his melodic invention and this passionately lyrical score must be one of the finest examples of his gift. Here the soloist is Philip Dukes, described by The Times as ‘Great Britain’s most outstanding viola player’.

By 1927 Bax’s style was changing and the opening of the Overture, Elegy and Rondo is reminiscent of a classical concerto, suggesting a leaning towards then-fashionable neoclassicism. The long, dreamy melody of the middle section and brilliant, colourful orchestration, however, are unmistakable hallmarks of Bax’s individual voice. - Chandos

Reviews

“… Dukes is a sterling advocate of this unjustly neglected work [Phantasy] – the haunting cor anglais solo recalls the shepherd’s lament in Wagner’s Tristan – while Davis proves passionate in the impressionistic Four Orchestral Pieces and the powerful, dark Overture, Elegy and Rondo.” - Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, Culture magazine, London – [September 14, 2014]

“All three of these rarely heard works come from the first half of Bax’s career as a composer. The earliest is the lightweight but charming set of Four orchestral Pieces from 1914, recorded here for the first time … The latest is the far more substantial Overture, Elegy and Rondo … Through stylistically the two works have their differences … both works reveal the same sure-footed handling of the orchestra, which these carefully manicured performances under conductor Andrew Davis show off beautifully…” - Andrew Clements, The Guardian, [August 29, 2014]

This disc received the 2004 Gramophone magazine award for "Best of Category (Orchestral)."
This special edition box set includes a bonus CD of interviews between Vernon Handley and Andrew McGregor about Bax's symphonies.

The Celtic twilight in Bax's music is ripely and sympathetically caught?The Chandos recording is superb.' The Penguin Complete Guide 'Throughout Bryden Thomson encourages his players to scrupulous observance of dynamic nuance?as well as a sensitive projection of atmosphere. There is plenty of exhuberance and rhythmic vitality and excellent internal balance.' Gramophone Recorded in: Ulster Hall, Belfast 10-11 April 1983 (Tintagel) and 28 & 29 June 1982 (other works) Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Philip Couzens (Tintagel)

R E V I E W S:

It's surprising that Arnold Bax's Symphonic Variations isn't played more often, for it's hard to imagine a more attractive Romantic work for piano and orchestra. The only thing it's lacking, as usual with Bax, is a truly memorable tune, but there are scads of attractive passages and ideas that come awfully close. In any event, this is an excellent performance, with Ashley Wass ebullient, rhapsodic, and meditative by turns. The slower bits (Nocturne and The Temple) are gorgeous, and they never drag. James Judd and the Bournemouth Symphony offer plenty of color and drama on their own, and they are very well recorded.

The Concertante is a late work (1949), and not one of Bax's best. Even though he's trying to be lighter than usual, his heavily chromatic harmony weighs the piece down, and what purports to be a jolly tune at the start of the final rondo fails miserably. Still, as with the Variations, the performance is wholly committed, and overall, especially on the strength of the Variations, this remains a fine addition to the Bax discography, and a very good deal at the price.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com



BAX Symphonic Variations. Concertante for Piano Left Hand • Ashley Wass (pn); James Judd, cond; Bournemouth SO • NAXOS 8.570774 (68: 03)


Here’s one of Bax’s best “Harriet Cohen” pieces, the enormous Symphonic Variations , composed during World War I. Lewis Foreman’s notes suggest that while Bax dedicated it to his then lover, Cohen’s small hands were not quite up to it. Bax had conceived the music with his own virtuoso technique in mind. Each of the six variations is as long as a movement, and the titles (“Temple,” “Strife,” “Triumph,” etc.) suggest a hidden program. Clear influences include (especially) Franck and Rachmaninoff, but also Elgar.


Complaining that this music is discursive is like criticizing a Thanksgiving dinner for not being sushi. If you know Bax, you know what you’re in for, or you would not sit down for the meal. Along the way, there are self-allusions, whiffs of other composers (thought I noticed a Ring quotation near the end), and the tune of a Bax song whose text suggests that this is indeed love music. Or perhaps music about the role and scale of love and passion, in the context of life and English society. Cohen was a spectacular beauty and a formidable artist. She seemed at the heart of British literary and political life, as well as being adventurous with music and musicians. Bax, already married, had bedded the hottest girl around. The Variations enact the period in which their relationship blossomed, and the composer then came to leave his wife.


The second half of the Variations is the stronger. It starts with “The Temple,” which makes something oddly yearning out of a blend of Grieg and Elgar, and it ends in a “Triumph” that is quite restrained. The music sounds replete with pleasure, and while it’s an extended narrative, it does not feel too long. This recording has the measure of the work, better than the Chandos version. These artists are full and Romantic in the rhapsodic “Nocturne” and brilliant in the scherzo, “Play.” It is no masterpiece, but Wass and Judd successfully project these Variations into the mainstream of big, highly indulgent, late-Romantic concertos.


The late (1949) Concertante is one of the left-hand works not written for Paul Wittgenstein. It’s another “Cohen” work, composed after the right-hand “injury” provoked by the revelation (on the death of his wife) that Bax had yet another girl on the go, and it had been going on for quite some time. The tunes are good, and the 22-minute piece is better than some reviewers claim, though it is not major Bax. A couple of the first-movement figures meandered into the Vaughan Williams Eighth Symphony, written a few years later. Other tunes suggest earlier RVW. The slow movement whips up something genuinely memorable from Rachmaninoff, Elgar, and Ravel, but it’s an authentic Bax delicacy. The Rondo is weaker, like lesser Saint-Saëns.


Recommended to Bax admirers everywhere: the best case for these works you are likely to hear.


FANFARE: Paul Ingram

BAX In the Faery Hills . November Woods . The Garden of Fand. Sinfonietta ? Vernon Handley, cond; BBC PO ? CHANDOS CHAN 10362 (75:44)


Sir Arnold Bax is an important late Romantic composer whose music is essentially neglected at a time when fresh and imaginative orchestral programming is desperately needed. Think of the many times you have attended a concert when a totally faceless and mediocre piece of modern music is played in an attempt to placate critical demand for new music. Then imagine how a world-class orchestra would sound playing Bax?s dramatically compelling, highly melodic, and brilliantly orchestrated music. Yet it almost never appears in concerts outside of England.


Vernon Handley has long been a champion of late Romantic and modern English music in general, and Bax in particular. His widely acclaimed album of the complete Bax Symphonies appeared on many Want Lists recently. Handley consistently stresses the importance of existing underlying form, even in Bax?s most floridly Romantic and seemingly rhapsodic, as opposed to symphonic music. In the symphonies, he moves the music along and refuses to pause and luxuriate in the sumptuous orchestration. This approach generally works well, but is potentially problematic in that it de-emphasizes the ravishing beauty of the critical epilogues of the Third and Sixth Symphonies that may well represent the very essence of Bax. This approach would seem to be even less applicable to the colorfully orchestrated tone poems. Not to worry. This recording is a knockout. Handley takes November Woods at a basically slow tempo that gives plenty of time to emphasize the lush orchestration but does not permit the underlying tension to slacken. The Garden of Fand is simply gorgeous. Handley?s expansive reading manages to find the structural backbone and emphasize forward momentum without sacrificing the poetry and innate beauty in the melodies and rich but transparent orchestration. He even outdoes Sir Adrian Boult here. In the Faery Hills is an orchestral Scherzo in the form of a tone poem. Handley maintains interest throughout the lightly orchestrated piece, but it would benefit from more nimble woodwinds. The rarely heard Sinfonietta (also known as the Symphonic Phantasy) is a unique three-movement piece that pretty much sounds like everything else that Bax wrote, but is not quite as richly Romantic as the large tone poems or as structurally grand as the symphonies. It is an abstract work without a specific program, but never seems stylistically very far from Bax?s seascapes or nature pieces.


This CD has some of the best sound I have ever heard from Chandos. It is luxuriant in texture, and has plenty of fine instrumental detail with none of the hyper-reverberant harshness that characterizes many Chandos recordings. The warm and deep bass drum is heard to great effect in The Garden of Fand and November Woods . This is highly recommended in every conceivable way. One hopes Handley will continue to record the rest of Bax?s tone poems and orchestral music for Chandos.


FANFARE: Arthur Lintgen

This new coupling brings Bax's Violin and Cello Concertos together for the first time, and includes the highly attractive 'Morning Song'. Both Lydia Mordkovitch and Raphael Wallfisch are regarded as outstanding soloists in their fields. Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 23-25 June 1991 (Violin Concerto) Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 1986 & 1987 (Cello Concerto), 7 & 8 January 1987 (Morning Song) Producer(s) Tim Oldham (Violin Concerto) Brian Couzens (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee (Violin Concerto) Ralph Couzens (other works) Peter Sheldon (Assistant: Violin Concerto) Philip Couzens (Assistant: Cello Concerto) Tim Handley (Assistant: Morning Song)

Handley's command of this unfamiliar music is wonderfully assured; the BBC Philharmonic play superbly for him, and it is hard to imagine anyone else doing it better or with more commitment. -- The Guardian (U.K.)

Towards the end of any major, protracted set of recordings, especially when it has maintained such an outstanding high standard as the Bryden/Chandos series of Bax's orchestral music, there must be quite some trepidation that even Jove will nod and that the mould of excellence will be broken. Well, Thomson has yet to put a foot wrong!' Which CD 'Thomson possesses an intuitive understanding that allows more of the music to compel than one had dared hope...The London Philharmonic plays beautifully...' The Independent Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 3 & 4 April 1986 (Saga Fragment), and 11 & 12 April 1988 (Four songs) Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 2 & 3 November 1988 (Russian Suite) and 23-25 June 1991 (Golden Eagle, Romantric Overture) Producer(s) Brian Couzens (Saga Fragment) Tim Oldham (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee (Golden Eagle, Romantic Overture) Ralph Couzens (other works) Janet Middlebrook (Assistant: Four songs) Ben Connellan (Assistant: Russian Suite) Philip Couzens (Assistant: Saga Fragment)) Peter Sheldon (Assistant: other works)

From the very beginning Bryden Thomson has just the right approach: restrained until the music bursts into life, then tender and meditative as the energy recedes. The climax at the end of the first movement is especially well handled.

"It is not difficult to appreciate from this performance why the Third Symphony, dedicated to Sir Henry Wood, became so popular in the 1930s. From the very beginning Bryden Thomson has just the right approach: restrained until the music bursts into life, then tender and meditative as the energy recedes. The climax at the end of the first movement is especially well handled. Many have been tempted to construct a program – no doubt there is a connection with the sea, akin to the references in the Fourth Symphony, Tintagel, of which there are undeniable echoes in the second movement, or The Garden of Fand – but Thomson is content to let the music speak for itself. Bax prefaced the short score with a quotation from Nietzsche – “My wisdom became pregnant on lonely mountains; upon barren stones she brought forth her young” – and Morar, where the work was composed is twixt the mountains and the sea, but he seems to have thought better of this quotation and suppressed it from the full score. The seascape on the Chandos cover offers just the right hint for the music, though the Naxos cover is the more tasteful.

The horn and trumpet calls at the beginning of the second movement are certainly evocative, but of what? Trumpets calling from sad shires, perhaps, like those in Vaughan Williams’s Pastoral Symphony – but now I’m getting involved in the game of finding the programme. Michael Oliver found himself doing something similar in his 1986 review, though along different lines. He attributed his yielding to the temptation to the eloquence and richness of Thomson’s performance, a sentiment with which I thoroughly agree.

A lento second movement immediately after a lento moderato opening movement could easily sound like too much of a good thing, but Bax makes it otherwise, with Bryden Thomson’s help. The jaunty opening of the finale could easily be overdone but Thomson resists the temptation: here, as elsewhere, his tempi seem to fit the music like a glove. As a result, the Epilogue still sounds ethereal and beautiful, but no longer seems disjoined from the rest of the movement. No doubt Vernon Handley is even more successful in this respect in his more recent version, available on CD with the complete symphonies or as a download, coupled with the First Symphony, over 74 minutes in total...

Most Baxians will already have a version of The Happy Forest – coupled, for example, on a very recommendable and attractively priced Bryden Thomson CD, with Tintagel, The Garden of Fand, etc., CHAN10156X; the two Chandos fillers here are much less well-known, though both are well worth hearing. With some good PR work, either could easily become really popular – who would have thought that Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending would have become so popular had it not been plugged on Classic FM?

Wild Irravel, the last of a set of Four Orchestral Sketches, lay forgotten until revived by Bryden Thomson for this recording. Like Pæan, originally conceived as a piano piece and orchestrated for the Henry Wood Jubilee, it employs large forces, including bells and organ. Both works are well performed here.

It is right and proper that these shorter works should be placed first, since the moody opening of the symphony’s first movement is all the more effective for following such boisterous works. Of course, it is possible – but a nuisance – to program the order of the tracks whether playing the music from hard drive, mp3 player or from CD, the latter being my preferred option – simplicity itself to burn with Windows Media Player or, better still, a dedicated programme such as Roxio Disc Creator."

- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International, [Excerpted review]

Classical Music

The heart-on-sleeve romanticism of Bax' First Violin Sonata reflects the composer' passionate love affair with the Ukrainian girl Natalia Skarginska in the winter of 1909-1910. Bax soon replaced two of the movements, but the vibrant originals survive.