The Chandos Bax discography expands still further with this recording of his two-piano works, all but the first (Moy Mell) written for Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson. They are played by Jeremy Brown and Seta Tanyel with immense virtuosity and brilliance and also with that romantic fervour so essential to this music. The biggest is the Sonata, composed in 1929, a strong, well-structured piece, even its first movement—a typical Baxian tone-poem—being kept within bounds. It is odd how much more disciplined Bax was as a composer for the piano than for the orchestra. This first movement is a seascape, the Lento a Celtic legend and the finale the weakest, one of Bax's Irish-dance movements which are the least convincing feature of his music.
Of the five shorter works, Moy Mell, written for Myra Hess and Irene Scharrer in 1916, is the most attractive, but the finest are The Poisoned Fountain and its companion-piece The Devil that Tempted St Anthony, both remarkable for the exotic and sometimes sinister colours that Bax could evoke from the piano. It is at the climax of The Poisoned Fountain that the recording of the piano-tone departs from the naturalistic standard prevalent elsewhere. Otherwise there is a clear differentiation between the two instruments.
Red Autumn is also a tone-poem in miniature, a 1931 revision of music written in 1912 and thematically rather undistinguished. Hardanger acknowledges a debt to Grieg and has a similar charm and vivacity. A disc that will be eagerly welcomed by Bax addicts and will provide pleasant surprises for non-addicts willing to try it.'