Bax: The Bard of the Dimbovitza; In Memoriam; Concertante for Piano and Orchestra

This is a first class CD in every way. It has 76+ minutes of premiere recordings of this composer whose name is becoming more and more mainstream. A friend tells me that 'Spring Fire' is now appearing on US concert programs and for that fact alone I am delighted. The only negative thing about this CD is that the three items are unconnected in every way and on the titles alone this may give the CD a certain 'motley' feel. I felt this as a negative gut reaction when considering purchasing the CD and I am so glad I overcame it. The opening work 'In Memorium' is not aptly named in my opinion. It will be recalled that Bax had similar problems with his Northern Ballad Number 3. 'In Memoriam' was written in the period of his life when he had just finished 'The Garden of Fand' and at the height of his powers in terms of pure inspiration. The music amd melody just gushed out of him at this time, this formidable skill as a phenomenon was a need to compose, not as later on when he was scatching his head in a Sussex pub trying to do a something for Royalty in his capacity of 'Master of the King's Musik'. This is total irony, the idea of Bax, the ultimate 'unashamed romantic' as a composer putting together Hanoverian processionals under peine dure et forte. The youthful passion of the 'Fand' years is depicted throughout this 15 minute work with one of those memorable Bax tunes that he later used as the Mr Brownlow theme in his musical score to David Lean's 'Oliver Twist'. Like the 'Fand' or the 'Coastal Command: Dawn Patrol' themes it is bitter sweet, reaching up slowly and the harmonies become more twisted as the theme attempts to over reach itself and falls back into a gentle sunset ending. The second work on the CD is a late work composed for his ancienne girl friend Harriet Cohen in 1948 (he had been with Mary Gleaves for about 20 years already)when she had damaged her right hand. It is well written and skilfully crafted, you would never guess ot was for one hand only. It is another stab at the British love affair with the piano and orchestra in the 1930-1940s. With the movoe scores like Addinsell's 'Warsaw Concerto' and Hubert Bath to the more serious John Ireland and Dyson, the romantic piano concerto exercised a fascination for the British public and this was an attempt, to my mind at least, for Bax to throw his hat into the ring of the flavor of that period. The work lacks the fire of his youth but his musicianship sees him through and this work, whilst not of his first calibre, is still pure Bax and worth an ocassional performance. The Bard of the Dimbovitza is a setting of five songs for mezzo soprano and orchestra to Romanian Folk Poetry. Bax does not imitate Romanian music any more than he grafts the reel or the jig into his symphonies. He sublimates the source of inspiration and produces a work of art that is personal and unique to him. The songs are all water colors of little dramas like Shostakovich's 'from Jewish Folk Poetry'. These songs are splendid and as character pieces they will delight with their folk color assisted by Bax's orchestration. The work has been unjustly ignored until the centenary in 1983 and then again until this recording. I hope many will hear its quality and enjoy its fresh vitality from Bax's prolific early 1920's period. Brilliantly played and recorded thoughout.

Sometimes what prevents a composer from entering the standard repertoire is the absence of any works that really take hold of the public. Think of where Holst's reputation would be without The Planets. He'd probably be less well known the Bax. One work has helped piggy back some of Holst's other compositions into the light. Bax, however, never produced a big hit on the scale of The Planets or The Sorcerer's Apprentice. What is particularly frustrating is that the work that opens the disc, In Memoriam, could have been just the work that could have helped Bax become better known to the concert-going public. It features the most glorious big-tune Bax ever wrote. It's stirring eloquence can hardly fail to grip all but the most insensible of listeners. Yet this magnificent tone poem was never performed in Bax's lifetime, and receives its first recording in this disc, nearly a half a century after Bax's death. Bax at least was able to make use of the works great tune in his score for David Lean's Oliver Twist; but for the film, Bax speeded up the melody and robbed it of much of its eloquence. In its original guise, it positively glistens with a heart-rending warmth and eloquence. This is a work that belongs in every collection of romantic orchestral music.

The disc also includes the unfairly maligned Concertante for Piano and Orchestra, a nostalgic, light-hearted work that occasional teases us with the sort of weighty material from Bax's symphonies. The disc concludes with a major work, The Bard of Dimbovitza. I can't pretend to be particularly fond of the poetry Bax chose to set, but the settings themselves are, like nearly everything from Bax, expertly done, with every subtlety and nuance of the text brilliantly captured.

Ravel's Left-Hand Concerto is very well known -- and justly so. The Prokofiev 4th and Korngold left-hand concerti are much less known -- justifiably so as well. But in Bax's case, we definitely have an unjustly neglected minor masterpiece. The Concertante is a delightful listen the first time around, and it delivers more riches on each subsequent hearing. Perhaps because it's the one concerto among this quartet of compositions that wasn't written for Alfred Wittgenstein (instead, for Bax's close friend Harriet Cohen) that we hear a lighter, fresher work. If you like early 20th century concertante works, you'll love this piece. It would make a great addition to a concert program, played by Leon Fleischer or someone else of similar stature in the left-hand piano repertoire.

The In Memoriam is also a memorable composition. Very much an "essay," it carries the listener on a special sound journey. Interestingly, the "big theme" in this piece would later find its way into Bax's music score for the film Oilver Twist. (Perhaps he didn't want a good tune to go to waste ... this piece wasn't performed in its orchestral garb until long after the composer's death.)

I wasn't as personally taken with the Bard excerpts, but this CD gets 5 stars on the strength of the other works. Thanks to Chandos for continuing to explore the vast catalogue of familiar as well as obscure works by this fascinating master of orchestral mood and color.