# Arnold Bax - a forgotten English composer to me



## LouisMasterMusic (Aug 28, 2013)

Hi,

I am looking for some assistance regarding Bax's music. I'd like to continue with his symphonies and tone poems, having purchased only a single CD of his music, comprising In The Faery Hills, The Garden Of Fand and the Symphony No.1 in E flat major. This is part of the cycle by David Lloyd Jones on the Naxos label. Could someone please provide a suitable order of the seven symphonies and tone-poems for me, using the cycle that I mentioned? You may post pictures of the CDs as well. If you can, please put a short description of the symphony and tone poem's musical styles (including influential composers) next to each one.

Regards

Louis


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Sir Arnold Bax is in some ways a forgotten composer, at least in concerts. But the recordings are keeping his music well alive (and Lewis Foreman's booklet essays are a huge part of the successes these recordings enjoy. His biography of the composer is well worth checking out). His symphonies are excellently written and compellingly argued, a musical journey from the turbulent First Symphony to the reflective, fare-well Seventh. Like Myaskovsky, Lyatoshynsky, and Bruckner, he is at his best in slow movements. As for his symphonies,

Spring Fire: Pagan, wild, resolute, magical (notice how it begins).
The First: turbulent, angered (try the second movement), mournful, uneasy. It was written in response to the turbulence he went through in the 1910s (WWI, the Easter Uprising which claimed the lives of some of his friends, etc.). The ending is triumphant, though one gets a sense that not all of what is said have that sense of resolve. Thus,
The Second: which is a continuation of the First (bleak, angered, the second movement beautiful before the terrifying climax sets in, resigned).
The Third (my favorite): An idyllic resolution of the first two symphonies, with one of the best epilogues written.
The Fourth: festive. Some would argue that the work evokes the sea (like the Seventh), which may be true in the slow movement. But this is Bax at his most gaiety. 
The Fifth: atmospheric, majestic, hauntingly beautiful (second movement), Sibelian in its brooding atmosphere.
The Sixth: his most uncompromising and demanding, yet arguably his masterpiece (tightly argued and very well developed). 
The Seventh: His most relaxed symphony: reflective, nostalgic, lilting. The epilogue is sad, sort of a good-bye in articulation and feeling (by then Bax was sort of retiring from composing. He became tired by then).

As for his tone poems,
Christmas Eve: A Sibelius-type beginning. A beautiful, dignified work with some glorious organ writing. 
Tintagel: majestic a la Wagner, grandiose.
November Woods: Hauntingly beautiful.
The Garden of Fand: Idyllic.
In Memoriam: much like the first two symphonies, but much more melancholic sad and introspective than resolute.

The Naxos CDs are excellent, though for my money, * Bryden Thomson's* recordings with the London Philharmonic remain benchmark (phrasings capture the sometimes cloudy details in Bax scores very well indeed and the recorded sound, at tad soupy, is appropriately atmospheric for this works). I would check out those Chandos CDs if I were you. *Handley* (also on Chandos) focuses more on the symphonies' structural integrity, if at times, at the expense of the magic behind the music. The *Lyrita* albums are well worth checking out also, esp. with* Boult *conducting the LPO in Bax's November Woods, the Garden of Fand, and Tintagel.

Enjoy.


P.S. check out *Eric Parkin's *traversal of Bax's piano music (Chandos) as well as the Hyperion album of his chamber works.


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## LouisMasterMusic (Aug 28, 2013)

Thank you for this information. Are you basing your order on the Bryden Thomson set you recommended? If not, could you please make another order for me following this?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Tintagel, November woods, Symphony 3, Symphony 6, Cello concerto.

If you are still hooked after that (like I was and am), go all in.


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## LouisMasterMusic (Aug 28, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> Tintagel, November woods, Symphony 3, Symphony 6, Cello concerto.


What cello concerto is the Bax one similar to; Elgar, Dvorak, Saint-Saens, or is it more individual?

I have listened to Symphony No.1, In The Faery Hills and The Garden Of Fand. If the works that you have mentioned are with different couplings (on Naxos November Woods is alongside the Symphony No.2), does it matter? For this reason, I may have to listen to the works you mentioned in a slightly different order, and I may also be jumping ahead a bit to Symphony 2 before 3.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

LouisMasterMusic said:


> Thank you for this information. Are you basing your order on the Bryden Thomson set you recommended? If not, could you please make another order for me following this?


In part. But in order, I'll say
Symphonies nos. III, II, VI, VII, Spring Fire, V, I, IV.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Someone recommended me for my first experience to listen to the symphonies in order, listening to one each day. That did have an impact on me.


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2014)

I've decided that what I wrote before was "chiding," and, as we all know, "chiding" is wrong.

As we also all know, "chiding" is quite often the only appropriate response.

But the appropriate response has been defined as inappropriate, hence, you cannot see what I originally wrote.

Oh, well. 

But I can give a wee precis, which is "Listen to a lot of Bax. Tell us about it." 

That's as a substitute for "Tell me what to listen to."

Enjoy!!


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