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Posted by Rob Barnett
on May 26, 2008, 4:11 pm, in reply to "Bryden Thomson's Bax"
Message modified by board administrator May 26, 2008, 7:50 pm
Thomson is magnificent in the first two collections of tone poems and his Bax Fourth is amongst the best ever if not the best ever. His Winter Legends (a symphony-manque) is superb. His Bax 5, 6 and 7 are pretty good but Bax 1, 2 and 3 seem underpowered and 'undermagicked' and the recording sounded opaque to me. I played them several times but each time I was left disappointed. I bought these CDs as they came out and was full of excitement and anticipation about them. I bought them in the mid-late 1980s but as each one came out they began to betray a trend - a stultifying heaviness of heart and congested recording quality. Perhaps they have been rmeastered and the later reissues and downloads are better but I could not recommend them - at least not on the basis of my impressions of the CDs when first issued. It's strange - and maybe it is a coincidence but the really successful Chandos Bax-Thomson discs were made with the Ulster Orchestra. For me the Lyrita reissues of 6 (Del Mar), 2 and 5 and 1 and 7 are to be preferred.
Rob
I used to use the recording of the first symphony as a test piece for listening to various loudspeakers, cables etc. It can sound a superb recording.
Len Mullenger
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