Search - Sir Arnold Bax, Bryden Thomson, London Philharmonic Orchestra :: Bax: Orchestral Works, Vol. 6

Not top-drawer Bax, but superbly played and recorded

G.D. | Norway | 01/17/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Along with their new release of the symphonies come these reissues of orchestral works, repackaged and recombined (in order to complement rather than compete with the new Handley release, I assume). Volume 6 includes another batch of lesser known Bax, and although not all of them are, perhaps, first-rate Bax (but second-rate Bax is still very fine music), there are some gems here.



The first work is as so many of his works concerned with myths and fairy-tales, but this time the attention has been turned to Russia, rather than Irish or Celtic mythology, incorporating rhythms and melodies based on folk music and dances (often with more than a touch of the music of the Russian silver age). The pieces comprising the suite originated as piano works, and indeed the second movement, a Nocturne, was (as far as we know) never orchestrated by Bax himself and here given in an orchestration by Graham Parlett. Both this and the two outer sections contain some enjoyable and fine pictorial music - the Gopak in particular - even if they cannot be said to belong among his most distinguished works. The following orchestral songs also include an arrangement in the case of `Glamour' - this time by Rodney Stephen Newton - but it is clear that Bax did intend to orchestrate it (both the arrangements are convincingly Baxian and beautifully realized). All the songs are beautifully evocative works, though perhaps not in the end particularly memorable. The incidental music for `Golden Eagle' is able to stand on its own (i.e. without the play), but hardly belongs among Bax's best works either.



One might wonder why the Saga Fragment wasn't included on the seventh disc in the series encompassing his more famous piano-and-orchestra works (on which there was plenty of room). One reason might, of course, simply be that it is not entirely on the same level of quality, even though it contains several interesting and well-developed ideas. The Romantic Overture was written for Delius and indeed brings to mind that composer as well as evocative depictions of pastoral landscapes.



All works are finely played and, as always, extremely finely recorded. But in the end, this is, perhaps, the issue in the series that is the most designed for the specialist, including as it does several rather obscure and not consistently first-class works. On the other hand, it interestingly displays the surprising variety of Bax's oeuvre, and for anyone knowing what they're going to, this disc can be securely recommended,"