It’s a shame Arnold Bax, arch-Romantic that he was, isn’t better known for his piano music. Like Rachmaninoff and Medtner, he often thought of the piano in orchestral terms, both as a medium in its own right and as a sounding board for his ensemble works; and the music he composed for it is often as inspired and strikingly colorful as any tone poem or symphony he ever wrote.

Consider the Third Piano Sonata: completed in 1926, it was written between the Second and Third Symphonies. It is a richly emotive work in Bax’s typically paradoxical manner that intimately confides the most theatrically extravagant of feelings. With a stormily affective first movement, a lyrical lento moderato, and a passionate finale, the sonata gives us the composer at inspirational floodtide. It lacks the steel grimness that extends its powerful reach across the Piano Sonata No. 2, but is otherwise its equal, and well worth hearing. I’m not as convinced by the opening allegro giusto of the Fourth Piano Sonata, lighter in texture but flawed by an annoyingly bumptious first theme. Still, the second movement is a bewitching piece that has Bax clasping hands with Borodin; not all that surprising, given the British composer’s predilection for Russian classical music. Much the same criticism as I had for the first movement applies to the last, except that the darkly reflective second theme and its subsequent development is again Bax at his best.

The two sonatas are balanced on this release by a series of four short works presenting far more than the usual chip off the compositional workbench. Winter Waters is a somber miniature tone poem written during WW I and subtitled “Tragic Landscape.” Bax keeps the violence churning beneath a murky, active surface, in a piece that would have made a very effective orchestral work if it were only less pianistic in development. Water Music is actually a selection from Bax’s ballet, The Truth about the Russian Dancers, and easily the most memorable thing in a score more notable for its ability to change mood and direction in a candle’s flicker than sustain any musical idea. It is a very good tune, worked out to great advantage.

The main theme in Country-Tune is English, to be sure, but it’s given a few harmonic and melodic twists that again recall the Russian Nationalists, before being sent home to the Land of Constant but Temperate Rain. O Dame Get Up and Bake Your Pies is late Bax: 1945, with an air of Butterworth about it, an impression of leisurely variation drawing upon a creative spring without visible terminus. It flowed more slowly for the composer in his later years, but in short pieces like this and the Oliver Twist music, and longer works such as his Wind Concertante, Bax proved he had more to say, and with eloquence, too.

This is the second volume of an expected complete series of Bax’s piano music featuring Ashley Wass, the first British pianist to win first prize at the World Piano Competition (1997). It’s something of a coup for Naxos to acquire the services of this young, extremely talented musician in music for which he possesses both an obvious affinity and commitment. He displays an excellent technique, great self-confidence, a sense of showmanship, and a clear set of ideas about how these works should be performed. The allegro quasi Andante middle movement of the Fourth sonata (marked “very delicate throughout”) finds Wass delicate indeed, offering a refined dynamic palette matched to judicious tempos and a transparent tone. Yet, as the finale to the Piano Sonata No. 3 demonstrates, he’s equally capable of indulging Bax’s pleasure in a broad canvas, awash in more colors than I’ve heard from any new pianist in some time...

Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

The Sinfonietta is entitled 'Symphonic Phantasy' on the unpublished manuscript (echoes of the original title of Sibelius's Seventh Symphony) and it remained unperformed during the composer's lifetime. He was unsure of it and told the conductor Christopher Whelen, to whom he gave the manuscript in 1950, that he didn't want it played. Whelen faithfully obeyed this injunction until 1983, when he was very reluctantly persuaded to let it be performed during Bax's centenary year. (He had previously refused a request from Robert Ponsonby to allow it to be premi�red at a Prom in 1980, where it would have shared the program with the first performance of Rubbra's Eleventh Symphony under Nicholas Cleobury.) Vernon Handley and the BBC Welsh Orchestra eventually gave the first performance at a recording session in Llandaff on 25 June 1983 for broadcasting later that year. (Odd to think that it has only ever been played in Wales and Czechoslovakia.)

The superb flute, harp, viola trio, Hat Trick, returns to Bridge with a fascinating program of recent works coupled with a classic. The trio, April Clayton, flute; Kristi Shade, harp; and David Wallace, viola, perform new music by Thea Musgrave, Daniel Dorff, Jessica Meyer, David Bruce, and Angelica Negron alongside Sir Arnold Bax's 1916 "Elegiac Trio".

Sir Arnold Bax wrote his seven symphonies between 1921 and 1939, embracing a prolific period that drew inspiration from a variety of sources. From the dramatic impact of the Second Symphony through to the seascapes of the Fourth and hints of Sibelius in the later works, Bax’s powerful symphonic world is one of surprising and at times stormy vigor contrasting with the most intense lyrical expressiveness and serenity. The selection of additional orchestral works evoking nature and atmospheric landscapes fascinates and rewards in equal measure, providing an essential overview of Bax’s music in critically acclaimed recordings.

REVIEW:

Listeners should come away mightily impressed by David Lloyd-Jones's clear-headed conducting of this intoxicating repertoire.

-- Gramophone

Past praise of previously released individual volumes included in this set:

Symphony No. 1 - In the Faery Hills - Garden of Fand

This first disc in the Naxos Bax series offers warmly idiomatic readings of two early symphonic poems, as well as the First Symphony…finely detailed. In the two symphonic poems, more specifically inspired by Irish themes, Lloyd-Jones draws equally warm and sympathetic performances from the Scottish Orchestra, bringing inner clarity to the heaviest scoring. First-rate sound...

-- Penguin Guide

Symphony No. 4, Nympholept, Picaresque Comedy Overture

The RSNO handle the difficulties of these scores well, with some wonderful solo playing from oboes and horns. The conductor David Lloyd-Jones allows those refulgent textures time to breathe, without letting the music sprawl.

-- Times of London

Symphony No. 5 - The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew

Lloyd-Jones's intelligent, meticulously observant and purposeful direction pays handsome dividends, and that a well-drilled RSNO in turn responds with sensitivity and enthusiasm. In short, another terrific coupling within what is turning out to be one mightily rewarding enterprise.

-- Gramophone

Cellist Idlir Shyti presents this new release of solo works, which takes its name from the first track on the album, Tan Dun’s Intercourse of Fire and Water. The work was written for and dedicated to Anssi Karttunen, who premiered the work in 1995 alongside the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Shyti pairs this work alongside pieces by Arnold Bax, Ernest Bloch, and Pascal Dusapin.

Idlir Shyti is an Albanian cellist based in London. He has been awarded the ‘Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste’ under the tutelage of Anssi Karttunen at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Preceding, he studied with Richard Lester at the Royal College of Music London and at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia Rome with Maurizio Gambini. In his journey of learning, he has come across and played for many renown musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Gary Hoffman and Johannes Goritzki.

Chandos' latest release in its film music series features the film music of Sir Arnold Bax. Comprising two of the composer's most important film scores, Oliver Twist and Malta, GC. This disc features the first complete Oliver Twist, in an edition specially compiled for this release. Both these works are rare in the catalogue. Recorded in: Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester 24 & 25 September 2002 Producer(s) Brian Pidgeon (Executive) Mike George (Recording) Sound Engineer(s) Stephen Rinker

Ashley Wass and James Judd turn in a finely wrought and atmospheric performance of Bax's Winter Legends--a piano concerto in all but name. A Bax specialist, Wass highlights the alternating delicacy and bravura of the composer's piano writing (especially in the alluring solo that opens the Molto moderato third movement), while Judd is equally adept at the orchestral accompaniment, drawing rich, colorful playing from the Bournemouth Symphony. This recording supplants the previous version by Margaret Fingerhut and Bryden Thompson, as Thompson is not as free with the music as Judd, and Chandos' over-reverberant recording makes Bax's already swimmingly chromatic music sound even more so.

The fillers, the delightful Morning Song "Maytime in Sussex" and the dramatic Saga Fragment, balance out the program quite nicely--about an hour of Bax at one sitting is probably all you need anyway. Naxos' recording captures the full range of the music (it's pretty wide), yet maintains clarity even in the tutti passages. Bax fans will find much to enjoy in this release.

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Arnold Bax. Soloist: Laurence Jackson.

Like so many composers, Sir Arnold Bax is known by only a fragment of his large output of music. Chief among the neglected areas of his achievement is the chamber music, which is certainly less frequently performed and recorded than his richly romantic orchestral scores.

Therefore it is good to find these viola pieces coupled in an appealing budget release from Naxos, pleasingly recorded by a particular talented player and his colleagues. Bax enjoyed an enduring friendship with the great Lionel Tertis (subject of a recently published biography by John White), and the substantial Sonata of 1922 is one of his finest compositions in any genre. The opening makes an arresting impression, at once atmospheric and expressive, while the scherzo is particularly exciting rhythmically. Martin Outram plays with warm expressiveness and a suitably rich tone, while Julian Rolton on the piano is recorded in just the right balance of perspective.

There is no question that the Viola Sonata ranks as the most significant composition among those collected here, and it is worth the price of the disc on its own. Alternative recordings are not numerous, and the most interesting is probably from Biddulph (LAB 148, mono) by the legendary William Primrose, accompanied by Harriet Cohen, famous for her relationship with the composer. However, the historical interest needs to be offset against the distinct lack of bloom of the pre-war recording. Earlier still, the composer and Lionel Tertis recorded the piece in 1929, though their version has remained out of the catalogue for several years.

That same year of 1929 Bax composed the Legend for viola and piano, music of serious and nostalgic character which finds him at his most darkly expressive. The other items, the Concert Piece for viola and piano, and the Trio for violin, viola and piano, are both early works, written well before the First World War. The latter is the more substantial of the two, and must rate as one of the strongest compositions from this phase of Bax’s creative life.

-- Terry Barfoot, MusicWeb International

This album was nominated for the 2005 Grammy Award for "Best Orchestral Performance."

Naxos' ongoing Bax symphony cycle goes from strength to strength with the release of this sumptuous performance of the darkly militant Fifth Symphony. The composer dedicated the work to Sibelius, and the very opening makes the source of Bax's inspiration quite clear. The piece begins with a sort of chromatic, glum paraphrase of the slow movement of Sibelius' Fifth--the music toys with exactly the same five-note rhythm, though of course the melodic material is quite different. The symphony's turbulent outer movements contain some of Bax's most exciting music (as well as his most dissonant and intractable), and he launches the central Poco lento with an unforgettable Romantic orchestral gesture: trumpet fanfares backed by high string tremolos and glittering harp arpeggios. Once again David Lloyd-Jones eclipses the competition on Chandos, offering a performance that's tightly wound, vividly played, and excellently recorded. The tone poem, another of Bax's nature portraits in the manner of November Woods, finds everyone involved in equally fine form. A winner. [5/22/2000]--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

In the golden age of vinyl, the English label Lyrita produced a series of Bax symphony recordings conducted by Myer Fredman, Raymond Leppard, Vernon Hanley, and Norman Del Mar that gave most their first exposure to the evocative, romantic symphonic music of Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953). It was one of the most distinguished series of audiophile recordings every chronicled. Lyrita only released two of the symphonies on CD (Symphonies 1 & 7) but that is probably out of print at the moment. There was an even better recording of the third symphony from the London Symphony and Edward Downes, also long gone. Chandos took a stab at the series during the dawn of the DDD era, but its conductor, Bryden Thomson, using slow tempos, took a loose and meandering view of these episodic works that caused them to seem disjointed. Naxos has now entered the ring with just the right conductor and orchestra and produced a series that is every bit the equal of that on Lyrita, but with a welcome twist, it is available to the public at less than half the cost. In this current installement, David Lloyd-Jones once again leads the excellent Scottish orchestra in a reading that is radiant and lyrical, and paced exacly right. The sounds of nature have seldom been so successfully translated into musical expression, and the superb engineering partners the performance hand in glove. If you like Vaughan Williams, especially his Pastoral Symphony, you will no doubt love this music. Start with this, the most popular of the composer's symphonies, backtrack to symphonies 1 & 2, already available on Naxos CD; then, along with me, keenly anticipate further releases in this magical series.--Rad Bennett, ClassicsToday.com

Bax: Symphony No. 4, Nympholept & Overture to a Picaresque C

English composer Arnold Bax was born in the late nineteenth century but had his maturity and came to prominence in the first half of the twentieth. His was an affluent and literate London-based family and Bax was able to pursue a dazzling career undistracted by worldly necessities. He had no need to earn a living, teach, give concerts, court the great and good or chase commissions. In this sense he was like his ultimately more popular contemporary Vaughan Williams. No stranger to writing songs, chamber music and piano solos, Bax seemed most fluently at ease with the orchestra. The Second Symphony, written in London and Geneva, carries a dedication to Serge Koussevitsky who directed the premiere with his Boston Symphony Orchestra on 13 December 1929. Eugene Goossens gave the United Kingdom premiere on 30 May 1930. Bax who had not been able to travel to Boston, wrote: “I feel very grateful to Eugene for his brilliant performance … which lifted it at last for me into a purely abstract world. So for the moment I feel unduly tender towards its grim features.”

Naxos is going head to head with Chandos in English repertoire, and while British critics no doubt will circle the wagons in defense of their home-grown product, the fact is that this newcomer beats the Brits at their own game. Not only do we have a British conductor with evident sympathy for the music (which is Bax at his opulent best), but one with an orchestra that Chandos, in its own innumerable releases, demonstrated was clearly superior to the London Philharmonic (led by the late Bryden Thomson in the case of Bax's symphonies). In addition, we also get a recording of excellent technical quality. In fact, Chandos' recording of this piece was cavernous in the extreme, and Thomson's sometimes slack way with the music was anything but ideal. (There's a superb version of this symphony on Lyrita conducted by Meyer Fredman which has never appeared on CD). In short, this recording offers top quality in both performance and sonics irrespective of price, and makes the perfect starting point for anyone interested in sampling the work of this lusciously Romantic composer. [10/3/1999]--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com