Well, no Bax in my Blog for over two years, then three this year alone, and the second this month!, i did an extensive listen to all of Bax's Symphonies!, this was the first i heard, and i fell in love with it right away, all the others i have a hard time with, they're not 'distinctive' at all, maybe i need to give them another chance or something, apart from Chandos and Naxos, Bax on the whole has been neglected, and i can't understand why this is with this Symphony, i nominated it as 'The Most Underestimated Symphony' on a Classical Music discussion forum, yes that's me that started it, i wish the Barenboim's and Ashkenazy's would tackle it, and it has one of the most sublime and beautiful Epilogues i know, this is the place to start if you want to hear some Symphonic Bax.
Bryden Thomson is Scottish, he died nearly 11 years ago, he was only in his early Sixties, he made this recording in 1986, the front cover is of a Scottish Loch [Loch Nan Ceall], there's a sort of comforting bleakness to the picture, wild and inaccessible, a place to get away from society and enjoy immersing yourself in yourself!.
It was great to hear this Symphony again, i listened to it extensively in 1992-1993 when i first acquired it, but then it went through a fallow period until i got back into it again in 2000, it's amazing that each time you come back to a work, you hear it in a new light, and that was what happened to me today, it's like i listened to it with a new set of ears i didn't have in all the other listens, and it was the final movement that was the most revelatory, this third movement is like split into two, with the gorgeous big epilogue halfway through, Bax loves rumbustious movements, reminds me lots of Arnold, and creates excellent use of percussive instruments, i guess high in the treble of the xylophone [0:26-0:31 & 1:01-1:05], lovely effect, plus there's extensive use of the Glockenspiel high in the treble, Bax's sweeping string melodies are harsh at the beginning of the last movement,
Here's the third movement of the Third Symphony being played on YouTube by David Lloyd-Jones.
