Bax: Piano Sonatas Nos. 3 & 4; Water Music; Winter Waters

In time I expect that a more individual and distinctive personality will become apparent in his playing. Indeed I think I'm beginning to detect it already in his accounts of the fourth sonata and of the powerful Winter Waters, and it makes me keen to hear more from him. For now, I wonder whether he has quite realised just how difficult a piece like the third sonata is to bring off with complete success. The piano writing is often bottom-heavy and there is a great deal of chordal, arpeggio and trill/tremolando work in it. Even the slightest hint of unevenness in the touch is made unmercifully apparent, and what is needed is really superhuman control of the finger-pressure, the kind of command that we get from Michelangeli or Gould or Pollini. It also puts a high premium on ultra-skilful use of the pedal, and it could be that this young player would benefit from studying the work of Cziffra, an out-and-out master of that particular technique. That said, Wass seems to me to have the measure of the piece basically, and he is heard to greater advantage in the rest of the recital. The fourth sonata is a less portentous effort than the third and Wass gives it a suitably high-profile reading. The Water Music, Country Tune and 'O Dame' variations are lighter stuff and again I was impressed by the idiomatic sense of the performances. In the Winter Waters Bax seems to me to rise to something approaching greatness, and although the piano style is in some ways similar to that in the third sonata I felt that this time Wass set his own stamp on the reading more successfully.

Bax's piano music has more to say to me than his enjoyable but slightly ersatz symphonic poems do. As musical statements the heavier pieces seem more personal to me, with less playing to a Tennyson-loving gallery. The liner-note finds echoes of Debussy and Scriabin in the earlier works (more Scriabin than Debussy I should say), and is wisely unwilling to commit itself regarding influences on the sharply different idiom of the fourth sonata. The Water Music is nothing like Handel's but started life as a ballet score, and is more popular and melodious in expression. The 'O Dame' variations are a kind of English music that I always find slightly tedious, but the Country Tune is pleasant enough if not especially memorable.

We are used to some spectacular recorded quality nowadays, and the recording here is not exactly that, but it's very good in general. Whether it is quite right for the third sonata is questionable, but in that instance I suspect that Wass will refine his playing to some extent in later performances to make it recording-proof. The liner-note is really quite good, with some perceptive comments on the music as well as information on the composer. As on other occasions, I want to express appreciation to Naxos for their initiative and imagination in making such music available at moderate cost, and I welcome this new young star on the pianistic block with particular interest.