Customer Reviews

Bax: Symphony No. 5; The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew

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The key to understanding the work of Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953) comes from an episode in his childhood as described in his late-life autobiography "Farewell My Youth." Returning home with his family from a country outing when he was five or six, he happened to see the sun as it set behind a forested hill, and the spectacle of beauty (the sunlight refracted through the great mass of leaves) about to disappear (for the sunset is an ephemeral thing) impressed him deeply. When the last rays had withdrawn below the horizon and night had come on, Bax writes, he felt inexpressibly sad. Whether it is the solar primary about to quench itself in the West or the rural lifeways of Scotland and Ireland dissolving before the relentless march of industrial civilization - or his own departed youth - loss is the central, lyrical, experience in just about every important score by this imaginative and talented composer. That so lyrical a creativity should have taken up the rather abstract form of the symphony might strike one as unexpected; but then Bax went about writing his symphonies at just the time when the avant-garde had declared the form dead. Although record companies have given us sporadic attestations of Bax's symphonic achievement over the years (the Third ranks as the most-recorded), there has so far been only a single integral cycle, the one currently available on Chandos under Bryden Thomson. But the enterpreneurs at Naxos are in the midst of providing, at long last, a second such traversal, three installments of which have appeared. I confine myself here to the Fifth (1932), the most recent of these releases. Depending on the critic, either the Fifth or the Sixth (1934) is the peak of Bax's cycle of seven. I plump for the Fifth, at once the most austere and formally rigorous among its stablemates and the most poignant in its evocation of tragedy and loss. David Lloyd-Jones' account for Naxos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra ranks, in my opinion, as the best recorded performance of a Bax symphony ever, with Sir Adrian Boult's old Lyrita version of the Sixth just nipping at its heels. The opening theme (clarinets, in the chalumeau register) of the First Movement hits just the right mood of enigma; the whole of the First Movement grows from this material, as Lloyd-Jones well understands, even when the Lento metamorphoses into an Allegro con Fuoco ("Fast and with Fire"). The middle-movement Lento begins with trumpet-fanfares over a shimmering undulation in the violins and violas; Lloyd-Jones gets it perfectly, bringing off the necessary crescendo-decrescendo as no one else has. A serpentine, slow solo for cor anglais harks back to the First Movement's opening gesture on clarinets. The Third Movement Finale makes use of what Bax called a "Liturgical Theme." This again stems from the basic intervals of the clarinet-motif of the First Movement. Bax puts it through an astonishing series of metamorphoses until, in an orchestral unison unprecedented in the symphonic literature, it blazes forth in its original form, after which the symphony comes to a quiet end. The "Liturgical Theme" functions as the index, the sign, the trace, of an old order, a natural dispensation of things, which is incompatible with the modern (the too-shallow) present and so has disappeared. It is the blaze of the sunset, the slipping-away of one's youth, and the evaporation of old ways of life that had exercised their rhythm, their ethos, for centuries. Bax's detractors accused him of loose thinking. This essentially mono-thematic is one of the most of powerful of our century and belies the facile judgment. Naxos serves up the coeval "Tale the Pine Trees Knew" as a filler. Magnificent. And for little more than a fiver.

Ever since Chandos released their set of Bax symphonies on Chandos back in the 80's, I have felt that Bax was one of the great underrated and overlooked composers. Thanks to Naxos, who seem to blow the dust off so many forgotten classical masters, we now have a rival version of several Bax works in modern digital sound. I agree with the reviewer from Amazon. This recording is even BETTER than Bryden Thomsen's recording for Chandos. Never once did the tension and drama drop during the performance. An excellent recording, and an excellent way to introduce yourself to the work of Arnold Bax. Anyone at all interested in Sibelius or Vaughan Williams will not be dissappointed. At this cost, what do you have to lose? Get this!

I got the symphony 3 and then became aware of how good Bax is.

This recording with the same director and orchestra makes a great continuation on the Bax series on Naxos, that I am looking forward to get complete.

Symphony 5 is more mature, and being dedicated to Sibelius, with similarities to this composer. I also heard Wagner in a symphonic way.

As a plus The tale the Pine-Trees knew is a wonderful symphonic poem.

Recording is excellent and, I am never tired of stress it, at Naxos prices a must.

Naxos's cycle of the symphonies of Arnold Bax with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under David Lloyd-Jones is one of the greatest achievements of their impressive catalogue, with performances that can easily match and often surpass the eminently impressive Bryden Thomson ones (I have to admit that I haven't yet heard the celebrated Handley cycle). While the fifth symphony might not quite be on the level of the first, third or sixth musically, it is still a gorgeous work of fantastic, wintry colors, memorable themes, luminous, lush textures and dramatic sweep, and given the scintillating advocacy it receives here this release is something of a must.

The work is somewhat darker and more pugnacious than Bax's previous symphonies, and the affinities to Sibelius even more audible (it was dedicated to Sibelius) - for instance, the opening of the first movement comes straight out of the more brooding sections of the second movement of Sibelius's fifth. The outer movements are generally tumultuous and thundering displays of gritty, tempestuous, chromatic power - harmonically they are (the first movement at least is) more abrasive than most of Bax's work, although they never leave the late-romantic world of lush atmospheres and glittering colors. All of it receives taut, powerful readings from Lloyd-Jones and the Scottish players. The central movement is, however, a grand romantic statement based on stirring thematic material, and the performances are utterly convincing, shimmering and glistening and opulent.

The coupling, The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew, is also one of Bax's most Sibelian utterances, darkly dramatic and atmospheric, and again the performances are utterly winning; vividly colorful, spirited and rhythmically vibrant. The sound quality is very good as well, ensuring an unqualified recommendation for this fabulous release.

Jim Svejda, KUSC-FM's highly erudite classic music "DJ", has placed this on his July short list of recordings to buy.