I usually don't like these 'compilations', all famous bits and pieces, but this one is a peach, made up of some fantastic things, nine works representing four Composers, concentrating on the short period just before the First World War, and just after [1911-1928], each piece can be considered fairly serene, and all composed with a small Orchestra in mind, this is the way to compile a varied programme like this, i especially found the Bax pieces something of a refreshing variety.
Jeffrey Tate is English, he's now 69 years old old, he recorded this disc way back in 1987, the front cover photograph is certainly ideal for the programme inside, a picture of a willow beside a stream, heavily swamped in blue and green filters, but it creates a nice colour combination, and a full listing of the tracks on the disc.
This is the perfect disc if you want to explore things a little further afield than the usual, i especially liked tracks 1, 4 & 6-9, nothing truly stood out as the best, but the sheer exuberance of the last piece by Bax 'Dance In The Sunlight', is worthy of a mini synopsis, sounding something that Arnold would write, fairly irreverent at times, and like it says in the title, very much in the dance mode, at times you can get a whiff of British Light Music, but Bax is more inventive than that, his instrumentation, especially in the woodwind is complex enough to make you dig deeper, right away the main tune comes in, dominated by the clarinet / clarinets [0:04+], but augmented by the flutes / oboes, you can just imagine the whole thing as Film Music from the Forties or something, a lovely little tune, usually Bax gets a bit heavy and possibly lost in his compositions, but here he's just having lots of fun, the piece explodes in a nice brass forte [0:51+], it's amazing what Bax can do with such a simple tune, there's quite a long passage for the flute in the background [3:01+], adding to a certain mystery of the passage, , the whole thing lasts for less than five minutes, the main tune returns in glory [3:33+], and it's so lovely to hear it again, a piece that certainly will become a charming companion.
Here's a link to the whole album on AllMusic, which gives a 30 second sample of each track.
Here's a link to the whole album on AllMusic, which gives a 30 second sample of each track.
