Arnold Bax - Phantasy; Four Orchestral Pieces; Overture, Elegy and Rondo (Andrew Davis)

Information

Composer: Arnold Bax

• (01) 4 Orchestral Pieces
• (05) Phantasy for viola & orchestra
• (08) Overture, Elegy & Rondo

Philip Dukes, viola (5-7)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Davis, conductor

Date: 2014
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010829

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Review

Composed in Rathgar, Dublin, and powerfully evocative of the County Wicklow landscape, Bax’s Four Orchestral Pieces were first heard in their entirety under Geoffrey Toye in March 1914 at a Queen’s Hall concert. In 1928 Bax overhauled the first three as the Three Pieces for small orchestra, whereas the last of the set, the exquisitely assured and headily voluptuous ‘Dance of Wild Irravel’, all but disappeared from view until Bryden Thomson recorded it with the LPO (also for Chandos, 12/86). After that, Sir Andrew Davis’s new version lacks something in sensual allure. Otherwise, there’s little with which to quibble performance-wise – and there’s absolutely no disputing that Davis’s sumptuously engineered reading of the Overture, Elegy and Rondo (a predominantly sanguine, clean-cut triptych dating from the summer of 1927) trounces the Marco Polo/Naxos rival under Barry Wordsworth (7/88). Drawing some first-rate playing from the BBC Philharmonic, Davis imparts plenty of confident swagger and twinkling fun to both outer movements, just as he is scrupulously attentive to the ear-pricking subtleties of the bewitchingly beautiful, at times ghostly centrepiece.

We’re also treated to the gorgeous Phantasy for viola and orchestra that Bax penned in 1920 for the great Lionel Tertis. The present account is an accomplished one – and certainly finds soloist Philip Dukes in healthy fettle – but the finished article perhaps falls a fraction short in ardour and sweep next to both Vernon Handley’s world premiere recording with Rivka Golani and the RPO (Conifer, 4/89 – nla) and Roger Chase’s stylish partnership with Stephen Bell and the BBC Concert Orchestra (Dutton, 4/13). No matter: for the sake of other two items alone, every Baxian will surely want to investigate this new Chandos survey.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PHANTASY (P): **** / THE REST (P): ***** / RECORDING: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Aug14/Bax_phantasy_CHAN10829.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/28/bax-phantasy-four-orchestral-pieces-review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/arnold-bax-phantasy-four-orchestral-pieces-overture-elegy-rondo-mw0002706734
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bax-Orchestral-Works-Philip-Dukes/dp/B00M15FL9M

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Arnold Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. In his last years Bax found his music regarded as old-fashioned, and after his death it was generally neglected. From the 1960s onwards, mainly through a growing number of commercial recordings, his music was gradually rediscovered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Bax

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Andrew Davis (born 2 February 1944 in Ashridge, Hertfordshire) is a British conductor. Davis was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1975-1988) and chief conductor the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000). He is currently music director and principal conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago (since 2000), and chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (since 2012). Davis has performed a wide range of repertoire, with a particular focus on contemporary British music. Davis has recorded for a number of labels, including Chandos, NMC Recordings, Teldec and Deutsche Grammophon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Davis_(conductor)

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