I must declare, right from the outset, that I
love Bax. I’ve never heard anything of his that I haven’t
liked enormously. His music is muscular, big on sound and amazingly
inventive. Every time I hear it I remember his small frame standing
in a box modestly acknowledging the applause for one of his works
receiving its premiere at the Royal Festival Hall and which I
was privileged to attend. That memory causes me to marvel at how
those big sounds contrast with his small stature. At last with
such an excellent series, of which this disc is part, as well
as those from other companies, Bax’s works are finding their
well deserved place at the forefront in the history of 20th century
British music. Certainly the conductor on this disc, the late
Bryden Thomson, was a great champion of Bax, as is Vernon Handley,
another Chandos-Bax stalwart.
Bax was extremely interested in the history,
myths and music of many countries, and the first three tracks
express his interest in things Russian. In 1909 he fell passionately
in love with a Ukrainian girl and followed her home to the Ukraine,
only to realise it was a hopeless cause by the summer of 1910.
Then, in 1911, he saw the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev in London
- it was their first appearance there. Bax was bowled over by
the experience and proceeded to write music with the Russians
in mind. Despite the fact that nothing came of this in terms of
performance it has given us some wonderfully evocative music.
The ‘Russian Suite’ is a perfect example, and brilliantly
captures the Russian style, incorporating folk-like rhythms right
from the very first note. “Gopak”, a spirited Ukrainian
dance, is thoroughly “Russian” in both mood and execution
with echoes of Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov; its catchy main theme
lingers long in the memory. “Nocturne” is a beautiful
tune that has been orchestrated for this disc by Graham Parlett
as all three movements originated as piano pieces and were first
performed by Myra Hess. No evidence has been found to suggest
that Bax ever completed the orchestration of this movement, as
he did with the other two. It is a vivid depiction of a warm spring
night in the Ukraine and, as the liner-note says, conjures up
Gogol’s description of similar nights in his ‘Evenings
on a farm near Dikanka’, in which he writes of the exquisite
air “refreshing and warm, full of voluptuousness”.
Bax’s ‘Four songs for tenor and orchestra’
begin with ‘Glamour’ which came out of a poem Bax
wrote in the Ukraine in June 1910 under the pseudonym of Dermot
O’Byrne. He composed the music in 1921, but it was only
written for voice and piano. Despite the fact that the manuscript
suggests that he intended to orchestrate it, no full score has
ever been found, and indeed, the song was neither published nor
performed during his lifetime. It was left to the Sir Arnold Bax
Trust to commission composer and orchestrator Rodney Stephen Newton
to realise and orchestrate the score. It is a remarkable achievement
as it is totally convincing in its evocation of the “Baxian”
sound-world. The remaining songs that Bax did write for orchestra
emphasise how close Newton has come to achieving his aim to “give
a good impression of what he (Bax) intended”. All four are
beautifully sung by tenor Martyn Hill.
‘Golden Eagle’, incidental music
to Bax’s brother Clifford’s drama about Mary, Queen
of Scots, is wonderfully evocative of the events that include
the murder of Rizzio, Mary’s private secretary. It is music
that stands on its own unlike so much music written for films,
and that’s just as well since the play itself survived only
a few performances in 1945, and had not been revived.
‘Saga Fragment’ for piano and small
orchestra, was written by Bax in 1933 for Harriet Cohen. It is
an orchestration of his 1922 single movement Piano Quartet, but
so skilfully did Bax arrange it that one would never guess that
it hadn’t been written for orchestra in the first place.
This is despite the fact that the piano part is virtually unchanged
from its original incarnation. One Bax’s special talents
was his ability to be able to pack a small piece with ideas that
he fully exploited, none of which he left understated. His works
always seem complete in every way, however short; brevity never
seemed to cause him any problems, and he was able to tell a complete
story in music, as well as the best short story writer in literature.
It is lovingly played here by Margaret Fingerhut, who has won
great praise for two other Bax recordings, and who we should hear
more from. It was a great discovery for me.
‘Romantic Overture’, which rounds
off the disc, was written in 1926 during a visit to see Delius
at his house at Grez-sur-Loing, in France, together with Peter
Warlock (Philip Heseltine). It was written for Delius and is scored
‘for chamber orchestra’. There are some interesting
things to listen out for, including a two bar quotation from César
Franck’s Symphony in D, and which is thought to have been
inspired by the lampooning of that symphony’s by Warlock
in his ‘Cod Piece’ “The Old Codger”. Incidentally
I can’t see what there is to lampoon in that symphony which
has such great, memorable and instantly recognisable tunes. Perhaps
this piece comes closest to what was once described as “cow-pat”
music by some silly critic who was trying to be disparaging about
English music - for what reason I know not. When I say this piece
comes closest I simply mean it is easy to identify it as English,
but no more than Finnish or Russian music is easy to recognise.
Why should that be seen as detracting from the music itself? Whilst
I’ve never been a particular fan of Delius, whose music
seems to meander aimlessly rather than making a statement, this
Bax piece is a delight and once again is teeming with ideas that
are fully explored though it is a scant thirteen minutes in length.
This disc repackaging at mid-price recordings
first issued during the 1980s and 1990s plays an important part
in Bax discography. The issue of the Handley/BBCPO cycle of the
Bax symphonies on Chandos has been taken as the cue for regrouping
the company’s Bax recordings to complement the Handley set
rather than the Thomson. This disc is the sixth newly established
volume in that process. It is an excellent place to start for
anyone wishing to dip their aural toe into Bax’s music.
Steve Arloff
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bryden Thomson Rec. All Saints’ Church,
Tooting, London on 3-4 April, 1986 (Saga Fragment); 11-12 April, 1986 (Four
songs); St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London, 2-3 November, 1988 (Russian
Suite); 23-25 June, 1991 (Golden Eagle and Romantic Overture) 