Bax Tone Poems
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1983
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABRD1066
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| November Woods |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| (The) Happy Forest |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| (The) Garden of Fand |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| Summer Music |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1983
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABTD1066
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| November Woods |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| (The) Happy Forest |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| (The) Garden of Fand |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
| Summer Music |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Bryden Thomson, Conductor Ulster Orchestra |
Author:
As with Sibelius, although his symphonies are the backbone of Bax's output, his symphonic poems, up till The Tale the Pine-trees Knew (1931), have a comparable importance. An LP of four of them should be a delectable prospect, but it must be said that two of the above works are already obtainable in fully satisfying versions while a third, The Happy Forest, has twice been available in a performance by Edward Downes and the LSO (most recently on RCA GL42247, 7/77), and while the latter is not currently in the catalogue it will be on the shelves of many Baxians. This composer's discography is not yet ar the stage where duplications can be afforded, and an LP of presently unobtainable items such as the Overture, Elegy and Rondo, Northern Ballad No. 2 and Overture to a Picaresque Comedy would frankly have been more apropos.
The fourth piece, Summer Music, dates from 1920, is dedicated to Beecham, and suggests a pastoral summer day. Yet it is no mere mood picture, being finely crafted, the unfolding of its events well varied. and the performance is acutely sympathetic. November Woods is an evocative and, for some of us, deeply affecting composition, and in terms of recorded sound the old Boult/LPO reading (Lyrita SRCS37, 10/68) holds up well. The Chandos is better, of course, and the improvement is important in view of Bax's richly detailed orchestration. It might also be mentioned that Thomson gets close to matching Boult's authority—quite a feat in such music.
Similar comments apply regarding The Garden of Fand, in which Boult can be heard on Lyrita SRCS62 (10/72). This is another of Bax's finest scores, tightly structured in just the way that symphonic poems often are not. Here the Ulster Orchestra's playing is of considerable expressive refinement, the overall impression is spacious and shapely although, the more flattering digital sound notwithstanding, no advance on what the LPO did for Boult. Where Thomson is ahead—of Downes and the LSO—is The Happy Forest, which hitherto seemed to me less personal than November Woods or The Garden of Fand. On Chandos it emerges with a more significant resonance. The fact remains that while this is a beautiful record, it could, with a bolder choice of repertoire, have been an essential one.'
The fourth piece, Summer Music, dates from 1920, is dedicated to Beecham, and suggests a pastoral summer day. Yet it is no mere mood picture, being finely crafted, the unfolding of its events well varied. and the performance is acutely sympathetic. November Woods is an evocative and, for some of us, deeply affecting composition, and in terms of recorded sound the old Boult/LPO reading (Lyrita SRCS37, 10/68) holds up well. The Chandos is better, of course, and the improvement is important in view of Bax's richly detailed orchestration. It might also be mentioned that Thomson gets close to matching Boult's authority—quite a feat in such music.
Similar comments apply regarding The Garden of Fand, in which Boult can be heard on Lyrita SRCS62 (10/72). This is another of Bax's finest scores, tightly structured in just the way that symphonic poems often are not. Here the Ulster Orchestra's playing is of considerable expressive refinement, the overall impression is spacious and shapely although, the more flattering digital sound notwithstanding, no advance on what the LPO did for Boult. Where Thomson is ahead—of Downes and the LSO—is The Happy Forest, which hitherto seemed to me less personal than November Woods or The Garden of Fand. On Chandos it emerges with a more significant resonance. The fact remains that while this is a beautiful record, it could, with a bolder choice of repertoire, have been an essential one.'
Bax Tone Poems
Bax Tone Poems
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