Three of Bax's seven symphonies, including the Second and Fifth, received their first performances in the United States.
Compositional Technique
The Second Symphony contains a literal quotation of twelve bars from its first movement in the finale, an event unparalleled in any other of Bax's scores.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bax's Second Symphony, like Egdon Heath, depicts a colossal landscape but peoples it with warm, fleeting human figures, reflecting the composer's emotional investment.
Recording & Production
Both Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 5 on this album were recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
Composer Biography
Sir Arnold Bax, born in London in 1883, was knighted in 1937 and appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1942, a position he held until his death in 1953.
Historical Context
A moment in the Second Symphony's slow movement is a reminiscence of Bax's orchestral memorial, In Memoriam, for the Irish patriot Padraic Pearse, executed after the 1916 Easter Rising.
Composition History
Arnold Bax composed his seven symphonies between the two world wars, with the first begun in 1921 and the last finished for the New York Fair of 1939.
You might also enjoy...
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4 in F Minor
Maxwell Davies: Symphony No. 2 - St. Thomas Wake
Arnold: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4
Elgar: Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major
Walton: The Symphonies
Arnold, M.: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8
Vaughan Williams: Job – A Masque for Dancing
BLISS: Colour Symphony (A) / Adam Zero
Visions of St Anne – Symphony for Orchestra: II. Scherzetto
