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This 5-CD set includes all seven symphonies by Arnold Bax (1883-1953), the familiar tone poem Tintagel, and the Rogue's Comedy Overture in its premier recording. It also features Vernon Handley in two interviews--one with Lewis Foreman in the booklet, one with Andrew McGregor on the final disc. However, it's probably advisable to listen to it first, since Handley, one of Bax's most dedicated champions, has many illuminating things to say. Bax called himself "a brazen romantic....my music is the expression of emotional states." The symphonies, written between 1921 and 1939, certainly reflect both inner and outer events: the Irish Uprising, which deeply affected Bax, who loved Ireland and lost many friends to the "troubles," World War I and the looming threat of World War II. Perhaps the most striking and pervasive characteristic of the music is contrast. All the symphonies have three movements divided into many sections with different tempo indications, signaling changing mood and character. Indeed, moods change constantly, often abruptly and violently; dynamics surge and swell, climaxes build with increasingly ferocious power. The orchestration is masterful, creating color, texture, atmosphere and expression; at full throttle, the sound shakes the rafters. The music is predominantly serious, somber, dark, with outbursts of passion, turbulence, bitterness and anger, relieved by unexpectedly rambunctious and martial sections. Every symphony opens on low instruments, setting a dark, ominous mood, but several end with a triumphant flourish, while others fade away with an Epilogue in serenity or resignation. No. 7 is regarded as Bax's compositional farewell, No. 4 as "cheerful and blustery." The form is sometimes cyclical, with opening material returning in another guise, which, for the naked ear, is difficult to discern. Most memorable are the truly beautiful, luxuriously lyrical melodies that abound especially in the slow movements. The playing is first-rate throughout. --Edith Eisler

ARTIST: Arnold (Sir) Bax, Spoken Word, Vernon Handley

CATEGORY: Music

MANUFACTURER: Chandos

FEATURES: Box set

TYPE: Box Sets (Audio Only), Classical, Orchestral & Symphonic

MEDIA: Audio CD

UPC: 095115112229

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Customer Review of Bax: The Symphonies
Handley's set a cornerstone, but Thomson's still Immortal.
For anyone familiar or not so familiar with the music of Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953) should start off with the interview disc (the fifth of the five disc set). Vernon Handley's interview, with Andrew McGregor, is without a doubt compelling, not just in terms of Handley's knowledge associated with Bax, but also in terms of the depth that comes with it. Handley appears to be the conductor who grew up knowing as much of Bax as Lewis Foreman, the composer's foremost biographer and advocate. Truthfully, an interview with the late Bryden Thomson should have been done during Chandos' making of the first set, for Thomson would have, as far as I'm concerned, added greater weight to our initial acquaintances and understanding of this great yet elusive composer. But, Handley's interview on the disc nicely supplements his first interview with Foreman, which is printed in the booklet.

The interview's introduction and epilogue are particularly thought provoking. And I find Handley's argument on the flaws of music criticism in accordance to fashion well taken, especially since Bax was the leading Symphonist until the mid-1930s, before Walton & Vaughan Williams entered the scene with their First & Fourth Symphonies respectively. Bax was criticized for being "too loose", too demanding orchestrally, and so forth. Yet Handley reminds us that Bax had an extraordinary sense of form and structure (influence to some extent by Glazunov as Handley aptly points out). Bax may well belong to the nationalist school of British composers, but he was much more than that. Sibelius & perhaps to an extent Rachmaninov were influential in Bax' brooding moods and his sense of color. Yet his journey was as long and searching as his contemporaneous Russian counterpart, Nikolay Myaskovsky, who, like Bax, remains as deep and resourceful as ever.

Well,...onto the performances. Let me say up front that Handley's grip of the symphonies demonstrates his understanding of Bax' language, which as he points out, is essential in projecting and conveying music in its most meaningfulness. Handley's view of the First Symphony (1921-1922) is the most dramatic and urgent on record. And while David Lloyd-Jones' reading captures the anguish and the contemptuousness of the Symphony to perfection, Handley never fails to relish the first movement's sense of rebellion. The Lento solenne movement is mournful, but Lloyd-Jones brings out more of the darkness and the funereal quality to it.

Interpretatively, Bryden Thomson leads the way in the Second and Third Symphonies, the former which is without a doubt Bax' most darkest. Handley painted the dark colorism of the work with convincing results. But his tempi to an extent robs the epic quality of its first movement, with the BBC Philharmonic sounding a tad thinner than Thomson's London Philharmonic (LPO). It's a fierce reading no doubt, but I like how Thomson reminds me of how even Vaughan Williams may have been influenced by this piece when composing his Fourth & Sixth Symphonies. The second movement is beautifully done, even by Myer Fredman (Lyrita LP-nla). Yet Thomson's ability to make the music glow in its own world pays wondrous dividends. Not only that, but the climax and its buildup proved to be a shattering experience. The ability to make Bax' music glow is essential, as in the case of the Third Symphony. There's something enchanting in the first movement's lento moderato section under Thomson. But the ongoing development is sweeter yet fuller in tone in Thomson's London Philharmonic. And I like the magic he brings forth in the climax (announced by the anvil). Handley's reading is special, but he speeds things up a bit too much and robs the music some of its glow. Not so in the Lento second movement which is beautifully rendered. But I savor Thomson's ceremonious way of the final movement leading to its epilogue, which is perfectly idyllic.

I have no qualms in Handley's vivid performances of the Fourth & Fifth Symphonies. As he points out, the Fourth should be better known and its gaiety does not necessarily imply weakness. Well said, since Bax was going onto a different style and self-definition. But regarding the Fifth, Raymond Leppard's recording is perhaps the best on record, not only because he remains tight in his control, but he also allows the music to dispel its sense of wonder in the Poco lento movement. His phrasings are perfect and the LPO provides some wonderful relishments. Thomson is likewise marvelous and the most magical in the slow movement. Handley's grip of the work, a mountain to climb as he describes it, is quite as strong and compelling.

The Sixth Symphony, very much like his Winter Legends, is what Handley describes as pagan music-not hedonistic but secular. It's landscape is as cold and detached, yet wild as Winter Legends, and Handley brought forth those facets to thrilling effects. Though I warm to the Third Symphony more any others, I agree with Handley that Bax' Sixth is among the greatest symphonies of the 20th Century. The ostinato beginning played by the tubas spells out the nature of the work: the mood that's bleak and contemplative. The epilogue I think serves as quite a foretaste of Vaughan Williams Sixth, among the most bleakest passages ever written (as with Myaskovsky's Thirteenth of 1932). I can't find fault with Handley's reading of, as he calls it "a frightening score." He projects the wildness of the first movement ideally while the slow movement is elegant. While the finale is very well done, Thomson brings out that extra sense of loss and inner contemplation in the epilogue. He's the most effective performer in the Seventh, Bax' most relax symphony: Not just because he gives us more of the majestics and the pompousness in the first movement, or the inner beauty and rapt poetry of the second, but the epilogue is simply more poignantly conveyed in its sadness as Bax' was saying goodbye to the adventurous world he knew (he wrote his autobiography "Farewell My Youth" during that time).

In closing, this album is a revelation, for Vernon Handley, as with Lloyd-Jones in the Naxos set, gives us other dimensions when understanding Bax. The BBC Philharmonic is excellent, especially in Tintagel & the Rogue's Comedy Overture. However, this great orchestra does demonstrate at places wanting in greater sonority. But my heart remains with Thomson's set. Though his tempi can at times sound laborious, Thomson, to me, knew how to project the inner beauty and wonder behind Bax' music. (...)

Superb advocacy for superb music
Why the English symphonic repertoire is so direly underrepresented on the international (and certainly the Dutch) concert stage remains an enigma to me, all the more baffling when listening to these fabulous symphonies. Bax has it all: lush melodies, endless incident, spectacular orchestration, shimmering mystery, haunting epilogues - anybody who likes Richard Strauss or Respighi cannot but love this music, and I wager that Bax has lots more to offer in the way of emotional substance than either of them. Bless Vernon Handley, the BBC Phil and Chandos for giving us this "Bax Box", which is a veritable treasure trove. Handley knows these works inside and out and is utterly committed to this music (and genuinely peeved at its neglect, as can be heard on the fifth disc containing an involving hour long interview). This is readily communicated in music making of white heat, resulting in some of the most compelling performances I've ever heard of any pieces. The Epilogue of the Third (surely among the finest pages in all of English music) literally brought me to tears!
Chandos's commitment to Bax is such that this is in fact their second cycle, an earlier one having been recorded by Bryden Thomson, who took a quite different view from Handley. Richly and reverberantly recorded, Thomson made the most of the swelling, romantic melodies - after hearing him, the beautiful tune of the Fifth's epilogue sounds just a tad plain in Handley's version; also, in comparison I found the dark tragedy of the Second somewhat lightweight with Handley, and quite overpowering in Thomson's hands. But the latter's structural grip on the music is some way behind that of Handley, so that at times it does indeed blur into the generalized, shapelessly chromatic washes of sound that have given Bax some bad press. No such thing happens in this new set: helped by more energetic speeds as well as a drier, more transparent recording and somewhat thinner string tone, the rhythmic underpinning of the music is continuously present, and the many simultaneous voices never push each other away, but rather reveal their intricate interrelations. This does a great service to Bax, fully revealing his genius as a musical architect and indeed as a top rank composer, every bit as worthy of general recognition as Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst or Britten. And not only is Handley's sound more transparent, it also encompasses a thrilling dynamic range, accommodating moments of quiet reticence as easily as the most extroverted outbursts - for a thrilling demonstration of the latter, just listen to the beginning of the Fourth, with the organ, so lamentably lost in the general hubbub on Thomson's recording now a spectacular presence from the very first bar. If I had to single out one symphony, that Fourth is for me the high point of this cycle, if indeed such a thing exists among interpretations that are all of the highest possible quality. For those who do not know Bax, it might be a good place to start sampling - or you might even want to acquire an installment in the excellent Naxos cycle with Lloyd-Jones as a low-risk point of entry. Though that would still be a waste of money, as in the end you simply cannot be without this touchstone set if you care even the slightest bit about English music (and you should!).

Bracing Bax
It is amazing that it has taken so long for a recording company to record the complete Bax symphonies by one of his leading advocates, Vernon Handley. Chandos has remedied that to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the composer's death. Handley has actively conducted all of Bax's symphonies in concert since the 1960's and has probably performed them more than any one else. That expierence brings not just new insights but a fine feel for Bax's orchestral structure
Most noticeable are at times brisker tempos. That is not Handley speeding up but merely following Bax. Many other conductors were not confident that Bax's tight orchestral textures would work at faster tempos so they cautiously held back. Handley does not and shows that it can work. He is also a deft hand at handling the often massive climaxes to be found in many of the symphonies. In many hands it turns into a blur of sound but in Handley's we can hear all the elements that make up those climaxes. He also finely balances the organ in Symphonies 2 and 4. The organ is not meant to overpower the orchestra but to be a part of it and that Handley achieves. Filling out the set are Tintagel and the premiere recording of the Rogue's Comedy Overture. A 5th cd contains Handley discussing the works with the discussion of each symphony indexed. Amazingly the conversation was done on the fly without notes, a clear indication of Handley's devotion and understanding of these works. Very fine notes and as usual excellent sound from Chandos.

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