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Bax-Symphony No 4
 
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Bax-Symphony No 4

~ Arnold Bax (Artist)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: £4.89 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Bax-Symphony No 4 + Bax: Symphony No. 6 + Bax: Symphony 5/Pine-Trees
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Product details

  • Audio CD (1 April 2002)
  • SPARS Code: DDD
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Naxos
  • ASIN: B000063TS3
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 152,388 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Overture to a Picaresque Comedy 9:16Album Only
Listen  2. Nympholept16:11Album Only
Listen  3. Symphony No. 4: I. Allegro moderato16:07Album Only
Listen  4. Symphony No. 4: II. Lento moderato13:00Album Only
Listen  5. Symphony No. 4: III. Allegro10:19Album Only

On this CD:
  1. Symphony No. 4
    Composed by Sir Arnold Bax
    Performed by Royal Scottish National Orchestra
    Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones

  2. Nympholept
    Composed by Sir Arnold Bax
    Performed by Royal Scottish National Orchestra
    Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones

  3. Overture to a Picaresque Comedy
    Composed by Sir Arnold Bax
    Performed by Royal Scottish National Orchestra
    Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Naxos's hugely welcome Bax symphony cycle continues. Number 4 is his "sea symphony", touched with the sights and sounds of Morar on the west coast of Scotland where the work was completed in 1931. It may not be the most immediately appealing of the Bax symphonies, but that's hardly down to any lack of surging passion (for example, at the close of the first movement and the opening of the last) especially given the forward momentum David Lloyd-Jones imparts to his reading, knitting together the wealth of ideas and episodes. The slow movement, nostalgic, wistful and stormy, is quintessential Bax. Throughout, the playing is urgent, committed and downright impressive, while the recording possesses both clarity and richness.

There's more nature music in the evocative 1912 Nympholept, which describes an ensnaring by nymphs in a haunted wood. The sense of mystery and pagan magic make it a counterpart to Bax's beguiling Spring Fire, which also should be better-known. In contrast, the Overture to a Picaresque Comedy is by turns playful, touching and riotous, in the style of Strauss's Til Eulenspiegel. It's as roguish as the title suggests and great fun. Both works are far more than makeweights, especially in the RSNO's hands.--Andrew Green

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious music at any price, 28 April 2002
By A. D. Lewis "adlew_uk" (Blackwood, S. Wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
What a wonderful CD, and at such a small price there is no need to hesitate. The music of Bax is gorgeous, rich and complex. True, there may sometimes be too many eggs in the pudding, but what a feast of intelligent romanticism, and what mastery of orchestration. The fourth symphony may not be the best place to start with Bax (for that try the wonderful third, or the dark Sibelian fifth), but it is given a masterful performance here, and Nympholept, worth a fiver on its own, is given a superb outing which knocks spots off the lifeless Chandos version. I love all of Bax's music. Apart from the symphonies and tone poems there is feast of chamber music and piano music which seems to me to be unjustly neglected. Naxos are to be congratulated, along with Chandos and ASV for making this music available. This particular series from Naxos deserves special praise for its sheer quality, as well as its bargain price.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another remarkable addition to the series...., 3 April 2006
By John David Charles Hilton "Creative spark...." (Redcliffe, Bristol United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
The CD opens with one of Bax's most enjoyable works, 'Overture to a Picaresque Comedy', a frolicsome tumble that recalls Richard Strauss' Eulenspiegel.
Next up is 'Nympholept', one of Bax's more overtly Celtic works. Melodic invention is to the forefront.
And then we arrive at the main course, the 4th Symphony. Sometimes described as his 'sea' symphony, the work is certainly atmospheric. It doesn't have the impact of his 2nd or 5th symphonies, but is still a major English symphonic statement.
As with all of this series, David Lloyd-Jones teases impeccible performances of all three works from the RSNO. The recorded sound is first rate.
For me there are now only two serious rivals for best conductor of Bax's symphonic works. Vernon Handley (4CD + interview disc on Chandos) and Lloyd-Jones on Naxos. Both bring Bax's works to life in a way that previous conductors simply haven't managed. I would not like to have to choose between the two.
The Handley set arguably has slightly better sound, but the Lloyd-Jones contains more of the tone-poems as fill ups.
The choice is yours, but whichever you choose, you are unlikely to be disappointed.
Hopefully Lloyd-Jones will go on to record some of the concerted works... Well, one can but hope....
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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great music but no Symphony, 29 Feb 2004
By Bernard Davis "Bernard Davis" (Birmingham, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This disc hits the ground running with the 'Overture to a Picareque Comedy' which zings along through nine minutes of musical slapstick mixed with melodrama. It sounds like a highly successful distillation of the film score for a 1930's or 40's romantic adventure. One quibble, the sound mix comes across as being rather bright and a little shrill.

It is good to be able to compare Bax's Tone poem 'Nympholept' with his Symphony No 4, Despite the supposed woodland inspiration of Nympholept both are filled with sea music of the highest order. The style of the Tone Poem composed between 1912 and 1915 is decidedly impressionistic and Bax revists this style, with some added rigour, in the Symphony which was completed in 1931.

For me Nympholept is the strongest of Bax's tone poems and is superbly performed and recorded here (no more brightness problems). The actual music in the Symphony is of similar quality. The problem is quickly revealed. While Bax was able to structure such music into a 16 minute long work he was unable to convincingly structure it in a 40 minute long symphony. The Symphony is one brilliant episode after another, but is a symphony only in name. I am left wishing that he had produced several shorter works from the same material.

In short, the symphony is a pleasant but meandering listen. I would have given it five stars based on quality of inspiration and performance. The structural problems of the work means it drops a star.

Revisiting this review in 2007 -

As regards the structure of the symphony the weaknesses may not all be Bax's. Vernon Handley makes a more convincing case for the structure of this Symphony in his set of Bax symphonies on Chandos. It may be that the conductor here, David Lloyd-Jones, has failed to do the symphony justice in this recording.
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