Release Date: 30 April 2005
Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313259229
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BAX
Description
Arnold Bax (1883-1953): Piano Works 2Piano Sonatas Nos. 3 and 4 Water Music Winter Waters Country-TuneThe piano was Sir Arnold Bax's instrument from thefirst, and by the time he started at the Royal Academy ofMusic in the Autumn of 1900 shortly before hisseventeenth birthday, his student works suggest he wassoon a capable pianist, a technique which grew by leapsand bounds as a pupil of Tobias Matthay. Bax wasunkind in his remembrance of his teacher, and yet in theheadlong, complex piano parts he wrote for the songs heproduced during this time we can document a rapidlygrowing capability, perhaps keener to play Wagneroperas at the keyboard than, say, Chopin. Fully aware ofall the latest developments he soon developed apenchant for the piano music of Scriabin and Debussy.Bax, however, was not the only talented youngpianist-composers at the Royal Academy at that time.His contemporaries included York Bowen, BenjaminDale, Felix Swinstead and Paul Corder, all pupils ofTobias Matthay for piano and Frederick Corder forcomposition. At much the same time the pianists MyraHess, Irene Scharrer, and a little later Harriet Cohenwere all Matthay pupils, and of course they playedBax's music. Yet while Bax took many years to make acareer, his contemporary York Bowen was animmediate hit both as pianist and composer and heappeared at Queen's Hall in his own music while still astudent. It is piquant to realise that Bowen's orchestralmusic has been long forgotten while Bax is now widelyknown.One has the strongest suspicion that Bax's earlymusic must have arisen from improvisation at the piano,and the harmony and colouristic textures which heespoused must then have sounded startlingly modern.He absorbed every influence he came upon at concertsat London's Queen's Hall where Henry Wood's tastefor the latest Russian novelty was meat and drink toBax. It was his habit, too, in the days before recordingor broadcasting, to play recent orchestral scores at thepiano, often as a duet with his friend, the pianist ArthurAlexander. He thus absorbed the latest sounds comingfrom Europe. Bax and Alexander played throughGlazunov's symphonies in this way, indulging in allmanner of pianistic 'in jokes' with each other - friendssaid they should go on the halls as 'Bax and Frontz'.Bax's early life was dominated by the keyboard andin his twenties, as well as appearing in concerts playinghis own music, he was also called on in extremis byconcert organizers when more established pianists letthem down. As a consequence of this we find him, inFebruary 1909, accompanying Debussy songs in thecomposer's presence, and in January 1914 he did thesame for Schoenberg's songs when the booked pianistwithdrew at the last minute. From the late 1920sonwards he played in public increasingly rarely,although he did make two recordings - of Delius's FirstViolin Sonata and his own Viola Sonata in May andJune 1929. Bax was a natural pianist, a composer whothought at the keyboard, and the fire in his romanticp
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yaqi Yang; Margarita Parsamyan; Robynne Redmon; Minghao Liu; Frank Ragsdale; Kim Josephson; Kevin S
Vilmos Csikos; Olivier Lechardeur; Manon Lamaison
Tomas Cotik; Martingale Ensemble; Ken Selden
