Bax: Tone Poems - November Woods, The Happy Forest, The Garden of Fand, Summer Music

I think the Bryden Thompson interpretations of Bax are superior to the recent Vernon Handley-BBC Symphony releases, which are more agitated and less tranquil as much of Bax should be performed.

very enjoyable music, especialy november woods

I wanted to experience Bax and these tone poems as part of understanding 'The Irish Renaissance' of the 1920's. I do find the 'Celtic Roots' in these works. Not being gifted in musicality, I still dare to offer my review as a caution to similar people. This is intellectual stuff and is technically wonderful. Sound is crisp and clean. I will replay this when I have a glass of Irish whiskey at hand but I will play Hayden, Strauss or Mozart or Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev (you get the idea of my level of understanding) much more often

This 1983 recording by Bryden Thomson and the Ulster orchestra contains what for me are Arnold Bax's two finest tone poems, "November Woods" and "The Garden of Fand" (1913-6), along with two very successful shorter efforts, "The Happy Forest" and "Summer Music". This is may be the finest effort in Thomson's Chandos series covering Bax's works - it is musical and sensuous, and receives just excellent engineering from the label's in-house crew.All four pieces date from between 1915 and 1921, with "Summer Music" written in this period, but only orchestrated in 1931. After this earlier period, which really is part of the impressionist movement, Bax moved on to concentrate on symphonies, writing 7 in all through the later 1930s. While the symphonies are sometimes very taking, I don't find them as attractive or concentrated as the musician's earlier conceptions. "November Woods" (1917) is my personal favorite among all of Bax's music. Spooky and dark, Thomson leads a fine performance that focuses on the contrapuntal writing underlying the chromatic, almost melodramatic harmonies. The interpretation enhances the piece and I prefer it to an alternative reading by David Lloyd-Jones (Naxos), which is more focused on the harmonies."The Garden of Fand" is an ambitious multi-theme work that Bax wrote between 1913 and 1916. Marking Bax's emergence as a mature artist, the score is prefaced with a prose poem about the work's subject, the sea (Fand's garden). "Fand" is a delicate, quasi-impressionist work that I think many will find appealing. "The Happy Forest" (1922) and "Summer Music" (1917, final version 1932) are both nature pieces, lasting about 10 minutes each, attractive and often memorable, although not quite as consistent as "November Woods" and "Garden of Fand."While the Ulster Orchestra isn't known as a world class ensemble, I found their playing just excellent here. The strings are tight with good intonation, and the woodwinds play with delicacy and agility. The only criticism I'd make is of the first horn player who is pretty good in some solo passages, doesn't perfectly execute the theme that opens "Summer Music" -- but even that isn't at all bad.

This CD is the heartland of Bax's prolific output. Bax stopped composing Tone Poems and got into full blown symphonies before he retired 'like a grocer'. All four works reveal a master of orchestral colour and atmosphere. 'The Garden of Fand' is Bax's celtic depiction of the sea, its shimmering and ever changing textures and melodies seem to have always been with me. I was brought up on the 1958 Barbirolli Golden Guinea recording on vinyl, the recording quality was dreadful but the music still had the fairy magic. Thomson keeps the magic of the Barbirolli, thank heavens. To verify this, listen to the central section when the cellos intone a phrase before the bubbling woodwind which seems to be a painting of the Atlantic wind itself, leading into the flute solo that end up with a questioning semi cadence with the four horns. I know of no other composer who could summon up the magic of the sea like this and whenever I am alone with a friendly sea, I 'play' this work through in my mind, reassuring myself that I am participating in the same glory that Bax saw in 1916. The Happy Forest is a altogether jollier work with a host of different, 'happy' orchestral episodes that Thomson manages without fault. The central dreamy section with its beautiful theme is one of Bax's great tunes, it is a pity the episode is so short. November Woods is not one of my favourite Bax tone poems, it is predictive of some of the stormy sequences in his later symphonies but is brilliantly played here. The smaller work and less known, Summer Music is the product of an untroubled soul who is happy with their life at the time. It is very reminiscent of Delius with its woodwind arabesques and string writing like a summer heat haze. The ending is truly glorious and makes me think of those days in my life before I encountered school and the worries and duties of life. This disk is my all time favourite (of my 300+) and will never be replaced in that capacity. I cannot say more.

I heard the "November Forest" piece on public radio, and liked it enough to order it. The important part is the care the seller took in packaging the item for shipment. You don't always see a third party vendor go the extra mile, but this one definitely did the job.