Arnold Bax: A great composer

Sir Arnold Bax was born on the 8^th of November, 1883 in Streatham, London, into an upper-class family. He was largely an impressionist composer, but often included elements of romanticism in his compositions, particularly in his earlier works. Bax was recognised early on as a great musical talent, especially on the keyboard where he was said to be a brilliant sight-reader, often playing Wagner operas in his spare time. He studied music when he was 16 at the Hampstead Conservatory and was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in 1900 where he stayed up until 1905. He won the Battison-Haynes prize and the Charles Lucas medal, both highly competitive awards in composition.

Bax quickly connected with Ireland and its culture and his compositions often show a strong Celtic influence. He used the works of William Butler Yeats as a basis for many of his early evocative tone poems. In the 1920s to 1930s his main works became symphonies, writing seven contrasting symphonies from 1922 to 1939. In the last ten years of his life, Bax felt that his compositions were becoming out of fashion as he had distanced himself from modernist composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and serialism, which was becoming increasingly popular world wide. He stated that he was musically tired and his creativity was dimming. Sir Arnold Bax died on the 3^rd of October, 1953 at 69 years of age. He still wrote some wonderful movie music in his last ten years and continued to write expressively for his lover Harriet Cohen.

Bax’s output includes some 250 works, which are listed at the following address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Arnold_Bax

Now you are probably thinking “ok. Here we have some ordinary composer who got the attention he deserved, and that Shostakovich, Mahler, Beethoven, and Dvorak are great composers who became famous because they were really great composers”. Now, I’m not going to deny that these composers I have listed are great composers. But I think that Arnold Bax deserves a place amongst those names. His music is more emotionally involving than Shostakovich, more intellectual than Mahler, more interesting, sincere, passionate and melodious than Dvorak, and was created using an astounding compositional technique comparable to Beethoven’s. People who dismiss his music as luscious, vague, dissonant or rhapsodic have missed his language.

Here is what British conductor Vernon Handley pointed out:

“I find it very annoying that Bax’s comprehensive musical technique is not recognised. His eye and his ear were so superbly developed. His gifts are astonishing; he releases us into an entirely different world, for nobody, in the whole of music, approaches the range of Bax’s moods, or their type. He has given us something that is very different from that of all other composers. That this is not recognised find extraordinary. So one has to go on trying to do something about it”.

When I purchased his cycle off Amazon (costing $55 all up with postage), I decided I would listen to the symphonies straight through in order. I will begin posting the separate symphony articles shortly for you to enjoy!

Our Top 5 Favourite Symphonies

DAHA!!! This is our top 5 favourite symphonies.... except Tullio.... MAYBE HE SHOULD OF SENT THEM TO ME AND THEY WOULD BE HERE!!! So on to the lists....

Harry

1. Bax 2nd
2. Bax 7th
3. Mahler 6
4. Mahler 9
5. Shostakovich 1

Jackson

1. Shostakovich 2nd
2. Bax 2nd
3. Mahler 6th
4. Shostakovich 3rd
5. Bourgeois 3rd

Matthew

1. Mahler 6th
2. Prokofiev 5th
3. Brahms 4th
4. Mahler 2nd
5. Shostakovich 1st

Me

1. Beethoven 6th
2. Dvorak 9th
3. Mahler 1st
4. Mendelssohn 4th (Pizza Symphony)
5. Dvorak 6th

Our Favourite Symphony is ..... *crappy drum roll* Mahler's 6!! PAH!!! I'm completely indifferent about it. In fact it was rather boring in most places, but moments of brilliance. Rather typical
Mahler.

Our Top Symphonic Composer is ..... *another crappy drum roll* Mahler!!! Meh..... More indifference....

Our Second Top Symphonic Composer is ...... *crappier crappy drum roll* Bax!!! Can't say anything about him......

Our Third Top Symphonic Compoer is ...... *ridiculous percussion fugue, but is pushed off stage* Shostakovich..... BOOO TOTALLY OVERRATED!!!

Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saens

I think that all of us would agree that Danse Macabre is a wonderful composition, and must rank as one of our favourite pieces, quite possibly ranking as Saint-Saens greatest achievement. Based upon a poem by Henri Cazalis about an old French superstition about Death appearing during Halloween at midnight, bringing forth with him the dead who dance with him while Death fiddles away on the violin. They dance until the break of dawn, when they must return to the grave until the next year. (Talk about planning your calendar around a single day.)

This little tale of the solo violin is at the very heart of Danse Macabre, cutting in with a severe E Flat and A chord on top of the growing music of the harp, before the flute and string section interlock in a growing background, before Death's violin's rather haunting solo enters, playing a delightful little call and respond with the flute, before the rest of the orchestra re-iterates the flute's theme as the violin begins another call and respond with the xylophone, a quaint little choice for the sound of rattling bones.

The orchestra then builds on the themes, creating intricate variations before the violin enters a more sorrowful solo which is echoed by the rest of the string section, before a series of runs by strings signals the orchestra, this time including a more significant part for the horn section to once more build around the main theme with descending runs before the violin once again returns, giving way quickly however to the string section as another series of descending runs coupled with the clash of the symbols and the quickening of the tempo and the introduction of the percussion to compliment the growing strings finish its climax, drifting away into silence, returning to their graves before the solo violin announces its theme once more, before descending into silence as the sun rises.

This is an immensely enjoyable piece, and much to my delight does not rely on the brass section to establish a dramatic, if peculiar musical scene. This is a classic work and one that should appeal to many fans of all the classical style Eras. Well deserved of 10/10.

Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is very modern. So modern, most of the year 9s during the music exam, covered their ears during that excerpt, with the exception of me, because I like it.
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is an amazing piece just in terms of extending the technique of string players.
It is scored for 52 string players, but it doesn't sound like strings for most of it. The extended techniques give the string orchestra, a normally fairly homogenous ensemble, an amazing new depth. You swear you can hear drums amongst the screeching!
Interestingly enough, it was not composed with Hiroshima in mind, the dedication was placed after it was performed under the name 8'37", with 4'33" in mind. The piece was so powerful he decided to dedicate it to the victims of Hiroshima.
It makes for exhilirating and overwhelming listening, but well it's almost impossible to put into words!

John Cage 4'33''

Seeing as it's modernist month I felt obliged to post about a highly controversial modernist piece of music. John Cage's 4'33'' takes minimalism to a whole new level, and was the 85 year old composer's favourite work. It takes roughly four and a half minutes to perform, as the name suggests.

The premiere of the work was given by American pianist David Tudor, in August 1952. Quoting Wikipedia: "The audience saw him sit at the piano and, to mark the beginning of the piece, close the keyboard lid. Some time later he opened it briefly, to mark the end of the first movement. This process was repeated for the second and third movements."

What makes the piece so famous is the controversy surrounding it, its substance challenging the very definition of music. Although not a single note is played for the entire work, the music is "the natural sounds of the players, the audience, the building, and the outside environment." Nothing of what you hear is anything the composer wrote.

4'33'' is unique in that it leaves almost no room for the performers interpretation; as long as he watches the stopwatch, he can't play it too fast or too slow; he can't hit the wrong keys; he can't play it too loud, or too melodramatically, or too subduedly.

But 4'33'' is a joyful embrace of our world and all it has to offer. It empowers us to take charge of ourselves, to trust our own instincts, to make our own judgements, to live our own lives. No other work in the history of music has expressed so much, and yet achieves its meaning with such disarmingly efficient elegance.

I must have listened to Mahler's symphonies dozens of times over, however only a few of the truly catching melodies stay with me. I listened to 4'33'' just once, months back perhaps, and yet I remember it vividly! You might ask "Couldn't a 3 year old have written this piece?" Perhaps. But did he? Did you? I think Cage is telling us that we've arrived at a point where everything should be possible, that it is now up to each of us to select and enjoy whatever elements of our world are the most meaningful to us.

As controversial as it is I have to give this work 10/10. Finishing up with a quote, "Genius, like music, comes in so many varieties."

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2

Rachmaninov's second piano concerto is one of the most popular piano concertos ever written, both among pianists and listeners. Written in December 1900, and dedicated to his physician Nikolai Dahl, the concerto was premiered by Rachmaninov himself, and was received warmly by the public (remember this was the age where crowds still booed music that wasn't to their taste).

The work is in the standard three movements. The first movement features the ideal starting for a nervous pianist. It opens with bell-like tolling chords, which build tension to the main theme. This gives the pianist a chance to get a feel for the piano without doing anything extraordinarily difficult. In the next minute or so, the orchestra is given a powerful melody, which drowns out the piano. This is while the pianist is playing what are almost scales, an excellent warm up, and the audience can't even pick up mistakes. Following this period, the piano is given a gorgeous melody, and the concerto just builds from there.

The second movement, adagio sostenuto, opens with chords by the strings, in which they modulate from the C minor of the last movement to E major. The movement reaches it's climax with a stunning piano cadenza, before dying away, with just the soloist playing in the end.

The allegro scherzando last movement once again opens with the orchestra. The piano then has has a short cadenza, which leads to the first theme. A lyrical theme is introduced, and after a development the tension is built up by a brillant piano cadenza. The second theme explodes on the scene with the whole orchestra coming in, leading to a fast coda to draw the piece to an exciting close.

I give this concerto 8/10, 2 off simply because I can't play it! That being said it's a 10/10, an absolute masterpiece of the romantic period.

Taneyev Chamber Works

Not many people would be familiar with Sergey Taneyev, so I will start by giving you a brief introduction to the composer. Taneyev (1856-1915) was a key figure in Russian music history. He began studies in piano at the age of 5 and soon emerged as a great pianist. He performed the premieres of many great works. His studies eventually led him to composing, and he became great polyphonist. Many describe him as a romantic Bach.

Taneyev's music is rather dense and very contrapuntal with its melodies, at first, rather hidden and, to me, hard to decipher. Once I took the time to intently listen I was able to grasp what Taneyev was trying to "say" with his music.

Starting with the fabulous quintet, I was lucky enough to view the score, as my piano teacher had performed it on a number of occasions and let me borrow the score. The first movement is a turbulent piece in sonata form with a sweetly tender second subject (in the unorthodox key of A flat major) which contains two very expressive and poignant features: a rising seventh in its second bar and a sixth in its penultimate bar. What's even more unusual about this melody, as an Amazon reviewer points out, is that its first six notes are an inversion of the first theme's initial six notes! This melody returns at the very end of the work in a most grandiose and spectacular fashion. The second movement is a deft scherzo in E flat major with a beautiful trio that returns in the da capo in combination with the scherzo theme.

The slow movement is based entirely on a descending C major scale above which is placed a most beautiful melody, music of haunting beauty.

The finale is another stormy movement which ultimately leads to a reprise of the second subject of the first movement in an ecstatic peroration. Once heard, you will never forget the way that initially tender and unassuming lyrical melody is transformed into a rapturous G major triumph. That rising seventh I mentioned earlier lends this melody a particularly blissful quality, especially noticeable when the first violin and the cello soar to amazing heights while playing at the upper limits of their registers in the coda. This coda is extraordinarily beautiful and ends the quintet in a tremendous 'explosion' of sound.

Coming immediately after the joyous conclusion of the quintet, the trio is a bit anticlimactic, but it is still a beautiful work. I didn't have a score so I can't really write with much authority, just my opinions. My favorite movement is the ferocious scherzo. It is easily the equal of any of the standard piano trios that are played over and over again.

I give these chamber works 9/10, easily right up there with the finest chamber pieces ever composed. I really can't understand their lack of popularity and fame, rather like Harry feels about Arnold Bax' works.

Atmosphères

Probably Ligeti's most well known work, Atmosphères is, not surprisingly, an atmospheric work which evokes a sense of timelessness. It featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey for exactly this reason, it leaves the listener simply lost in the texture and tone, making the listener oblivious to the passage of time.

Normally, in an orchestra, you will have a large group of string players all playing the same notes. However, despite there being fifty-five string players in the orchestra, no two of them, at any point in the piece, play the same note. At points, there is a chord on the strings which encompasses every note of the chromatic scale over almost five octaves, a truly original and powerful technique, which while incredibly dissonant, has a luminous glow about it, taking musical expression to a new level.

I must stress that if you intend to listen to this piece, you must not form a negative view of it just because it is so dissonant. Sure, dissonance often sounds harsh and painful when heard in some tone colours, for example, on the piano. But when heard with the right timbre and at the right dynamic, dissonance, at almost any level, can be highly evocative and enjoyable to listen to.

There are four main elements in music. Melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre/tone colour. In this piece, Ligeti has chosen to abandon all but the latter. This creates a thickness of texture which is particularly effective in Ligeti's aim of providing an interesting and original work. Sure, there's no tune to hum and no rhythm to tap, but you'll find yourself simply entranced if you listen to this powerful work.