Various Composers - English Orchestral Music [Tate-English Chamber Orchestra] 

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.

Bax - Symphony 3 [Thomson-London Philharmonic Orchestra] 

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.

Bax - Winter Legends [Fingerhut/Thomson-London Philharmonic Orchestra] 

One of my 'successes' from an intense disc buying spree with Bax, i find his Symphonies seem to merge into each other, it's hard to differentiate between one and another [except the wonderful Third], and his quasi 'Piano Concertos' as such [this the Winter Legends, and the Symphonic Variations], it's more like a Symphony with piano as a major instrument, rather than a virtuoso soloist playing the major role, only my second entry for Bax, where has he sneaked off to in my life?. 

Bryden Thomson is Scottish, he was born in 1928 and died in 1991, he did major symphonic survey's of Bax, Vaughan Williams, and Martinu, he recorded this work in 1986, the front cover photograph is of Antarctica, i guess the sun is low on the horizon all year round, a perpetual sunset, the 'blues' of the ice are lovely, and the orange of the skies.

The first thing that hit me about hearing this work again, is the wonderful sonorities that immediately grab your attention, right from the start there's a military drum solo, and the piano comes right in afterwards, scampering up the keyboard, a lovely idea, in the third movement [YouTube video below], there's a delicious ghostly ringing of bells from the treble piano keys, as the hand goes up and down the keyboard, but it's the second movement Lento, Molto Espressivo that i found a real affinity with, it starts off with what i believe to be a bassoon in its higher registers [0:00-0:28], but in some ways it sounds like a saxophone, a nice atmospheric beginning, and the piano afterwards weaves some nice notes, one of my most favourite sections that Bax ever did comes in this movement, and it starts on the horns / brass, as they have a fanfare in slow motion [4:08-4:38], then the music takes a turn for the genius, the piano gently chimes out notes in the lower registers [4:37+], while the high violin strings [4:41-5:02] create a sinewy tune, which sounds as if it's lifted from the Avengers television theme!, and the bassoon bubbles away in its lower registers right at the end [5:01-5:20], it's the most magical / memorable section of the whole work, i've dubbed it Bax's Avengers theme!, later there's a very Rachmaninov section [6:40-6:56], sounds like it comes from one of his Piano Concertos [the Second i think], two thirds of the way through there's this soft off-stage side drum roll [10:40+] with the piano softly strumming out the start of the Avengers theme again, and wonderfully it develops yet again full blown as before [11:13+], the piano nicely chiming away, right near the end the soft strumming chants on the piano again [13:25+], side drum and a high solo violin join in, Bax teases us with ideas and themes, i must admit i've listened to the work quite a lot, but because of this Blog, i think this is the first time i've actually properly heard it!, i've learnt more on this listen than at any other time.

Here's the Third movement being played on YouTube.

Bax - Symphonic Poems [Lloyd Jones-Royal Scottish National Orchestra] 

This was a great experience today, five of Bax's best known Symphonic Poems on a well filled disc, now i really can't believe that this disc represents Bax's debut in my Blog, how did that happen?, for me he's quite a major British Composer, Chandos really got the ball rolling in doing a major survey of all of his music, and i bought a fair number from that label [i thoroughly recommend the Third Symphony, it's a beauty], and now Naxos are getting in on the act, but his Symphonic Poems are almost like single symphonic movements, maybe easier to digest, in listening to this disc today, i marvelled at how much these sound like cast off's from Holst's Planets, at times there's almost direct quotations, one of the problems i've had with Bax's music in the past, is that he's wonderful with sonorities, his soundworld is very inventive, but his overall structure might leave something to be desired, as his creations wander all over the place, so it was good to sort these similar sounding Poems out into more individual pigeon holes, an enlightening experience.

David Lloyd-Jones is British, born in 1934, makes him 77, he recorded this disc in 1995-1996 and 2002, the front cover is so much better than the usual Naxos issues, a really nice winter picture, for once Naxos get it right.

I played this disc on 'random' on my player, and the first track to come up was 'The Happy Forest', a lively piece, reminded me very much of Jupiter from Holst's Planets, it's the shortest piece on the disc by far, and the one that impressed me the most, it has a jovial main theme [0:25+], a spritely tune that wouldn't go amiss on some old British film, very much fuelled by the woodwinds and brass, i guess sounding like a seafaring caper, but there's a gorgeous central section, it's introduced by a lazy flute and harp [3:18-3:41], and it develops into a truly languid, full of dreamy violins wallow, with a strumming harp in the background, the whole thing is repeated twice for good effect [3:42-7:40], and the main tune returns for a 2 minute blast, the ending is quite jokily done, finishing not on a big climax, but rather off handedly, once you put the piece under the microscope, you see some very interesting things.

Here's Lloyd-Jones conducting The Happy Forest on YouTube.