Bax recommendations?

[DavidRoss]

I've only begun to explore the idiosyncratically romantic symphonies of Bax, starting with the Lloyd-Jones recording of #6. After 3 or 4 hearings over as many months, it's starting to grow on me, at least enough that I'm interested in hearing more. Are there any Bax fans who'd like to offer recommendations? I'm considering taking the plunge and going for the new Handley set on Chandos. Anyone familiar with that who'd care to offer an opinion?

[Ralph]

The CHANDOS recordings by the late Bryden Thompson are excellent. NAXOS has released a very wide range of Bax works and all the discs are at the least in the very good category.

[jserraglio]

I love Bax's symphonies & orchestral works.

Handley's recent cycle on Chandos is superb but so are the Thomson and Lloyd-Jones versions on earlier Chandos and Naxos. The Handley would be my first pick.

The Handley comes with a very helpful interview disk that helped me appreciate the composer even more, but you can't go wrong with any of these three versions--or, if you can find them, the Lyritas (on CD and LP--also issued by Musical Heritage Society on LP vinyl).

[MartinPh]

The Handley set is fantastic. Though the Thomson is impressive too, Handley has a stronger grip on structure, he has more sense of rythm, and he gets more transparant sound. The Loydd-Jones versions, though not at all bad, lack sufficient weight, IMHO.

Nrs. 3, 4 and 2 are my favourites, in that order.

[Febnyc]

Recommendation - find a recording of Tintagel. It's the best thing Bax ever wrote.

[jserraglio]

Recommendation - find a recording of Tintagel. It's the best thing Bax ever wrote.

The series of orchestral music Thomson did on Chandos is still readily available, now at midprice, and Tintagel is in one of the volumes.

Berkshire lists Symphonies 2, 3, and 5 with Thomson on Chandos ($4.99) per disk.

I prefer Handley myself but I also like Thomson's looser, more freewheeling approach. MartinPH is right: the sound is not as good as what Handley gets.

[DavidRoss]

Thanks for the recommendations. I took them to heart and ordered the Handley box. (Somewhat disappointed at the seeming lack of interest in Bax, but not really surprised.)

[jserraglio]

. . . (Somewhat disappointed at the seeming lack of interest in Bax, but not really surprised.)

In my case it was a friend who asked if I was interested in Bax's music. "You mean Bach?" I blithely replied, but Bax's name was planted.

Other British composers of symphonies that deserve wider recognition: Malcolm Arnold, Robert Simpson, George Lloyd, Edmund Rubbra, and Alan Rawsthorne. Aren't most of our American symphonists (Piston, Diamond, Creston, Hansen, Harris, Mennin, Schuman) also virtually unknown?

Arnold's are accessible & rewarding. Simpson produced 11 symphonies of startling depth and originality.

Thanks to Naxos, Chandos and Hyperion, we have readily available recordings from both groups.

[MartinPh]

Quite right, jserraglio! It remains a mystery why some pieces are played to death, and others at least as appealing are rarely or never heard. The Rubbra Fourth is a sure hit with anybody who happens to hear it, and the Arnold Fifth might well be one of the ten greatest symphonies written in the 20th century (well, in my opinion at least...). The Piston symphonies, especially nrs. 4 and 6, are to die for, and so, of course, are Bax nrs. 3 and 4.

I have never had the opportunity to hear any of these works in concert - English and American works are programmed very, very rarely anyway in the Netherlands. I get the programs of all our major orchestras every year, and yet in ten years time have heard no more than an Elgar and a Walton First, Elgars Cello concerto (obviously), the Vaughan Williams Sea, London and Pastoral, and the Barber violin concerto. That's it. In stark contrast, I can hear a full Mahler cycle every year, if I like (give or take the Eight, but even that one was performed at least 6 times in those same years!)

[pizza]

Aren't most of our American symphonists (Piston, Diamond, Creston, Hansen, Harris, Mennin, Schuman) also virtually unknown?

I don't think so, especially since the CD format came along. For example, look at the Diamond recordings available now. Gerry Schwarz recorded much of his major work for Delos, now reissued by Naxos, and the same is true of the other composers mentioned; David Alan Miller also did some wonderful recordings for Albany/Troy with the Albany SO. There has always been interest in these composers since the days of Koussevitzky, and now they have a substantial following.

[jserraglio]

I don't think so, especially since the CD format came along. For example, look at the Diamond recordings available now. Gerry Schwarz recorded much of his major work for Delos, now reissued by Naxos, and the same is true of the other composers mentioned; David Alan Miller also did some wonderful recordings for Albany/Troy with the Albany SO. There has always been interest in these composers since the days of Koussevitzky, and now they have a substantial following.

You're right. Plenty of recordings to choose from, compared to the bad old days, e.g., Schwarz's new series of Schuman symphonies for Naxos. I guess what I was lamenting was their absence from the concert hall, at least the ones I can reach. The only substantial work of that group (other than Bernstein and Copland) I've been able to hear live was Roger Sessions' Symphony No. 8.