Sir Arnold Bax

[kyjo]

Dare I say that the First is my favorite Bax symphony, at least currently? A recent listening to the BBC Philharmonic/Handley recording on Chandos confirmed this. What an absolutely stunning debut symphony, full of drama, tension, atmosphere, memorable themes, and striking orchestration. It also contains very little of the dead spots/longueurs that occasionally affect his other symphonies. As most of you already know, it was composed in response to the Irish Civil War, a subject which informs the martial nature of the outer movements. But what really makes this symphony stand out to me amongst his other works in the form is its extraordinary slow movement, a tensely mysterious creation which rises to an absolutely gripping, imperious central climax. Pretty much all of Bax's subsequent symphonic slow movements sound positively ordinary compared to this one, IMHO of course! And Handley's rendition sounds marvelously compelling to my ears, though I know most folks here don't seem to particularly like his Bax recordings.