Bax, A.: Symphonic Variations / Concertante for Piano Left Hand Ashley Wass

• 1 Part I: Theme: Lento espressivo - 02:31
• 2 Part I: Variation 1, Youth: Allegro: Restless and tumultuous - 04:11
• 3 Part I: Variation 2, Nocturne: Slow and serene, Broadly - 06:36
• 4 Part I: Variation 3, Strife: Allegro vivace 07:39
• 5 Part II: Variation 4, The Temple: Slow and solemn - 09:46
• 6 Part II: Variation 5, Play: Scherzo: Allegretto vivace - Intermezzo, Enchantment: Very moderate tempo - 10:27
• 7 Part II: Variation 6, Triumph: Moderate tempo: Glowing and passionate 04:39
• 8 I. Allegro moderato 08:08
• 9 II. Moderato tranquillo 07:47
• 10 III. Rondo: Allegro moderato 06:27
• Total Runtime 01:08:11

Info for Bax, A.: Symphonic Variations / Concertante for Piano Left Hand

Bax completed five works for piano and orchestra, beginning in 1916 with the highly virtuosic Symphonic Variations dedicated to the pianist Harriet Cohen. The work was likened by Rosa Newmarch, who wrote the programme note for the first performance, ‘to some great epic poem dealing with the adventures of a hero…passing through a number of different experiences.’ The Concertante for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra (1949) is on a smaller scale. The romantic slow movement opens with a beautiful and haunting piano tune which gives way to a brooding atmospheric middle section, coloured by typical Baxian orchestral textures, like swirling mists in a nocturnal vision of some Irish coastal vista.

„It’s surprising that Arnold Bax’s Symphonic Variations isn’t played more often, for it’s hard to imagine a more attractive Romantic work for piano and orchestra. The only thing it’s lacking, as usual with Bax, is a truly memorable tune, but there are scads of attractive passages and ideas that come awfully close. In any event, this is an excellent performance, with Ashley Wass ebullient, rhapsodic, and meditative by turns. The slower bits (Nocturne and The Temple) are gorgeous, and they never drag. James Judd and the Bournemouth Symphony offer plenty of color and drama on their own, and they are very well recorded. The Concertante is a late work (1949), and not one of Bax’s best. Even though he’s trying to be lighter than usual, his heavily chromatic harmony weighs the piece down, and what purports to be a jolly tune at the start of the final rondo fails miserably. Still, as with the Variations, the performance is wholly committed, and overall, especially on the strength of the Variations, this remains a fine addition to the Bax discography, and a very good deal at the price.“ (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)

“The young pianist Ashley Wass play[s] impeccably – not only stylishly, but also with subtle, expressive shading and lovely liquid tone quality.” (The Independent)

Ashley Wass, piano
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
James Judd, conductor

Recorded in the Concert Hall, Lighthouse, Poole, UK, on 21st and 22nd May, 2008
Engineered by Phil Rowlands
Produced and edited by Andrew Walton

Digitally remastered

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This album contains no booklet.