The symphonies of Arnold Bax

[maestro267]

I'm finally getting round to listening to a Bax symphony. This seems like an opportunity to test one of the interesting and thus-far untested features of this forum: poll-setting. If you are familiar with these works, which is your personal favourite?

For the record, I'm starting with the Sixth. No reason, really.

[BBMmk2]

Which recording?

[maestro267]

Oh, RSNO conducted by David Lloyd-Jones on Naxos. :)

[StephenO]

Voted for No 2. Vernon Handley and the BBC Phil would be my first choice.

[BBMmk2]

I have the Bryden Thomson and Vernon Handley cycles!!

[maestro267]

I am gradually listening to all 7 Bax symphonies. Yesterday evening I listened to No. 2, and so far today I've tackled Nos. 1, 4 and (currently) 7. So far, I've been most impressed by the Second. The first movement is so dramatic, especially that (imo) jarring and climactic final E minor chord.

UPDATE: After completing my Bax cycle last night, I voted for No. 2.

[Magic_Stag]

It's taken years to get 2 complete cycles (Handley on Chandos & David Lloyd-Jones on Naxos), Before I depended on the Lyrita LPs hence my choice of No 5. (beautiful slow movement, harps & trumpet)
I believe 6 is the greatest, also No.1 has bite. Enter worlds of beauty and nostaliga!

[Ferretfancy]

I started listening to the Bax symphonies on the Lyrita series of LPs, and have got the subsequent versions by Handley, Bryden Thomson and LLoyd-Jones. I do listen to them, I do admire Bax, but I have to be in exactly the right mood to cope with his emphatic rhetoric. I still feel after repeated hearings that he was at his best in the tone poems, not just Tintagel and Fand, but the lesser known ones as well. Does anybody else feel this, or is it just me?

[Curalach]

No Ferret, it's not just you. I too think that the tone poems are the best of his writing. I have persevered with the symphonies for 25 years, first with Thomson, then Lloyd-Jones and Handley. I think they are all well written but, for me, totally un-memorable. I know this will be heresy to some but it is just how his work affects me.

[Dave2002]

ferret

I listen with enjoyment on occasions to Tintagel and the Garden of Fand, but so far, after several attempts, my views on the symphonies are that they're really not worth bothering with. Maybe when, and if, I eventually have another go, I'll change my mind, but there is such a lot of other good music out there by other composers that is deserving of a listen, that trying to hype up Bax seems pointless.

[Norfolk Born]

I completely agree with the three previous messages. I feel that the length of the symphonies far exceeds their musical substance, with the result that after a while most of them become pretty shapeless; the only one I can honestly describe as a truly fine work is No. 6. Incidentally, I don't necessarily agree with the rumours that the same person voted 5 times for No. 2 from 5 different PCs.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've voted (only once :)) but it's slightly misleading, as I don't know some of Bax's symphonies.

[3rd Viennese School]

Well, Ive heard only no.4 and 1. They are quite good. No. 1 is a very "in yer face" work!
My cycle was interupted when the Canterbury shop closed down. Ive always meant to continue with the cycle, no.2 being the next one. It will happen soon!
3VS

[groovydavidii]

MB's although this topic involves an order of merit poll of Bax's most popular symphony, don't overlook this versatile composer's chamber music–like the Nonet, Quintet for Harp and Strings etc, Hyperion and Naxos ((Nash Ensemble/Mobius/Maggini Qt.) offer splendid recordings of his chamber works.