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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Terrific Choral Pieces for Lovers of English choral music
11 Sep 2007
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The first work on this CD dates from Bax's early years before World War I. Bax wrote a number of extended tone poems based on or inspired by Greek themes. Less familiar (at least to me) was this first work called "Enchanted Summer" (1909). Being a confirmed Baxian, I found the same full-bodied lush orchestration that all of us expect to hear from Sir Arnold. First rate recording/sound/performance. For those who love or hate the Chandos "sound" ---this CD is a demonstration disc for that style of engineering.
The other two works are Fatherland (1909) and Walsinghame (1926). Fatherland I found a very early non-Baxian sound but still is unmistakenably composed in the UK. An early Baxian bookend for the collector. The other work, Walsinghame, to me is an amalgam of the beautiful tone poems he composed before World War I and yet there is a sadness which you hear in all of Bax's (and many others of that time...) of a world that had irrevocably changed. Walsinghame is a beautiful choral piece that reminds me of Delius and Vaughan-Williams.
Highly Recommended.
The other two works are Fatherland (1909) and Walsinghame (1926). Fatherland I found a very early non-Baxian sound but still is unmistakenably composed in the UK. An early Baxian bookend for the collector. The other work, Walsinghame, to me is an amalgam of the beautiful tone poems he composed before World War I and yet there is a sadness which you hear in all of Bax's (and many others of that time...) of a world that had irrevocably changed. Walsinghame is a beautiful choral piece that reminds me of Delius and Vaughan-Williams.
Highly Recommended.
Not top-drawer Bax, but rewarding nonetheless
4 Jun 2010
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The eighth installment in Chandos reissues of Bax's orchestral works (apart from the symphonies) isn't the strongest one, even if it contains some interesting music and is a must for Baxians who don't otherwise have these works. Fatherland is a very early ballad that has little in common with the later Bax; it is relatively effective with its loudly boisterous choral parts and orchestral refrains, but hardly a masterpiece asking for concentrated or repeated listening. Enchanted Summer is also an early work, but this time the Bax of the tone poems is clearly audible. There is some vividly coloristic and atmospheric orchestral effects here, magical evocations of sunlight and lush woodlands, although the work as a whole is a little diffuse and meandering with the scoring being merely opaque at certain occasions; the writing for chorus isn't entirely idiomatic either; still, this is a rewarding work that deserves to be heard, not only by ardent fans of the composer.
Walsinghame is a stronger work, a passionate and strident expression of the later Bax (1926); the vocal parts are much better integrated with the orchestral forces, and the result is some shimmering and gorgeous passages, elegant, grief-laden and beautiful at the same time, culminating in a wonderfully ethereal and becalmed coda. Soloists and chorus are very fine and the orchestral playing is virtually unsurpassable in the loving hands of the late Vernon Handley. A pity that the recorded balance isn't quite perfect, with the soloists being placed too forward in the picture, but the orchestral and choral sound is still very well captured. Not the most important issue in this series, then, but still a very rewarding one.
Walsinghame is a stronger work, a passionate and strident expression of the later Bax (1926); the vocal parts are much better integrated with the orchestral forces, and the result is some shimmering and gorgeous passages, elegant, grief-laden and beautiful at the same time, culminating in a wonderfully ethereal and becalmed coda. Soloists and chorus are very fine and the orchestral playing is virtually unsurpassable in the loving hands of the late Vernon Handley. A pity that the recorded balance isn't quite perfect, with the soloists being placed too forward in the picture, but the orchestral and choral sound is still very well captured. Not the most important issue in this series, then, but still a very rewarding one.
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