Lewis Foreman's classic biography of the composer Arnold Bax (1883-1953) was first published in 1983. Documenting the life and times of a remarkable figure whose life touched a wide circle in England and Ireland, it was notable for having many of Bax's friends and contemporaries as sources, most of whom have since died. It also informed the remarkable revival of Bax's music and reputation which has taken place over the last twenty years. Now completely revised in the light of much new material including the huge archive of the pianist Harriet Cohen, Bax's mistress, which has only just become available for research, it is a notable portrait of a unique musical milieu. Bax's extensive musical output is now comprehensively recorded and widely known and here all the music is discussed from first hand acquaintance with all the revivals and recordings. This is the essential handbook to Bax and his period. LEWIS FOREMAN is a freelance author and advisor to record companies.
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Editorial Reviews
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(Foreman's) big Bax biography...is surely his central achievement...The book established itself at the outset as the standard work on one of the most important and least understood British composers of his time...The new edition makes (it) more indispensable than ever. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE (Calum MacDonald)Baxians everywhere owe Lewis Foreman a profound debt of gratitude and newcomers can rest assured that he is an absorbing and painstaking biographer...mandatory reading. GRAMOPHONE (Andrew Achenbach)A more wide-ranging study of Bax and his work than ever before...This book is a tour de force and the fitting culmination of a lifetime's dedicated research. CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE (Julian Haylock)One of the great biographies of an English composer just got even better. May it snare still more converts to this betwitching composer. CLASSICAL MUSICFor its contribution to the ongoing documentation of an extraordinary period of British musical creativity it is invaluable. BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY NEWSForeman's latest effort is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Bax. JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF MUSICOLOGY IN IRELANDHighly recommended. CHOICE
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bax new edition adds much new info,
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This review is from: Bax: A Composer and his Times (Hardcover)
Lewis Foreman's update to his excellent biography of Sir Arnold Bax is most welcome. Bax is certainly not a household name, but he wrote seven symphonies, a number of tone poems, and many works for the piano and other instruments. He was a master of complex orchestrations, and his works can be enjoyed on several levels. He was also complex, while at the same time simple, as a man. The new additions to the book help us to understand many of his contradictions, and his relationships.
Bax was born into a well-to-do English family, and never had to seek employment during his lifetime. That let him travel extensively during his youth and early adulthood, and lead to a deep and abiding love of things Celtic. That endures today in a great deal of his music, and the emotion is both close to the surface and also deep in much of his music that plumbs that source. His tone poems make a fine introduction to his symphonies, and provide hours of enjoyment themselves. He was more than just a tunesmith, and his popularity during the 20's and 30's lead to an unexplainable decline until the 80's. The release of a large volume of his music on CD has resulted in a new audience, and renewed popularity for this almost forgotten composer. Lewis Foreman has been one of the foremost proponents of his music, and has written the program notes for many of the recordings. His earlier biography was well written, and added much to this readers enjoyment of the music. The new update has gleaned a lot of new material and many insights from the use of the material in the possesion of Harriet Cohen, his long-time mistress. She removed much of his personal papers immediately after his death, and also retained the large correspondence that she had with Bax over a period of many years. This volume may well be the last word, or nearly so, and is certainly worthy of a place in any musical library. It also includes a very up-to-date discography and a catalog of Bax's works, compiled by Graham Parlett. A useful bibliography is provided, together with notes and an index. The book will be enjoyable and useful to many readers, and I also urge owners of the original volume to add this one to their collection.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bax deserves the advocacy, but this book does not delve below the surface,
By MartinP "MartinP" (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bax: A Composer and his Times (Hardcover)
Bax has written some of the most compelling and fascinating music ever to come out of the British isles; yet the survival of his legacy today depends almost entirely on the CD, and his music is virtually unknown outside Britain. I had hoped to find in Mr. Foreman's biography of the composer some explanation or theory regarding this perplexing state of affairs. I had expected, too, to see the colourful richness of the music reflected in an equally colourful description of Bax the man.
To my surprise, however, I found this book rather monotonous and, in a way, superficial. I hesitate to say this, seeing how many decades Mr. Foreman spent on studying his subject, but there it is. Maybe I set too high a standard for a composer biography, La Grange's "Mahler" being my idea of perfection. Compared to that monumental achievement, Foreman only gives us fragments, with the focus on brief analyses of key works, Bax's love interests, and his lifelong infatuation with Ireland and things Irish. What the book lacks is an integrated sense of the musical and social environment Bax lived and worked in, and his views of it. It is inconceivable to me that in a biography of an English composer who lived through the year 1945 no mention at all is made of probably the most sensational musical event in Britain for centuries, the premiere of "Peter Grimes". Similarly, it is frustrating to read that Bax went to hear this or that work of a fellow composer, but never to be told what he thought of it. Too often, Foreman is content with dropping names. Instead of filling in the details, we are treated to an umpteenth love-letter to Harriet or Mary. On a different note, I was quite amazed how the reader is made to forget that Bax actually had children. There's hardly a word about them - they get six and seven entries in the whole of the book, respectively. In the end we have a pretty clear idea of outward events, but little sense of the inner workings of the man himself. What caused the eventual drying up of inspiration? Why was Bax so vulnerable to alcohol? What was the driving force behind his love affairs? What were his views of his own musical achievements - and those of others? How can it be explained that a man of such prodigious talent did not succeed in truly establishing himself? Why did fatherhood mean so little to him? Such questions remain largely unanswered. You might say that Foreman is a competent musicologist and a decent historian, but not much of a psychologist. Nonetheless, this is no doubt the best book on Bax around (it is, as far as I know, the ONLY book on Bax around) and Foreman does deserve praise for his staunch advocacy of this extremely interesting and unaccountably neglected composer.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brazen Bax Enthusiast,
By
This review is from: Bax: A Composer and his Times (Hardcover)
Lewis Foreman's updated Bax biography is by far the most informed and cogently-presented written source for fans of this composer and I snapped it up as soon as possible after its recent publication. A published composer myself, I had the thrill of spending a few days at Bax's winter haunt of Morar, in the western Highlands of Scotland, staying at the same hotel and maybe even in the same room as the composer may have occupied on one or more of his sojourns; so reading of his winter working-holidays there was especially meaningful to me. I would have preferred a greater number of photographs to be included in the publication, but the composer's well-known camera-shyness may be an indication here.
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