Exploring Arnold Bax’s Phantasy for viola and orchestra (1920): Part 3

Reaction: The most significant discussion of the Phantasy was an essay titled “Bax’s Viola Concerto” included in the Bax Society Bulletin (June 1968, p.25). Graham Parlett begins by recognising that Bax early on recognised the “supreme technical mastery of Lionel Tertis, the salvation of the viola as a solo instrument.” After noting the six works that Bax wrote for the instrument he suggested that the Fantasy with piano and the Concert Piece were “not of any intrinsic value.” In his opinion the best of Bax’s works for viola was the Sonata with piano completed on 9 January 1922. Parlett states that “here form and content are admirably fashioned into a unified whole and the work must rank as amongst his greatest creations.” Turning to the Phantasy, he gives a descriptive analysis of its progress. Importantly, it “contains some of Bax’s most memorable melodic writing, often with phrases that are unmistakably Irish in origin.” 

Colin Scott-Sutherland (1973, p.80) gives little commentary on the Phantasy. He does explain that Bax “assimilated” many musical influences “with a mind receptive beyond the average.” This included Irish and English folksong. However, his attitude towards this resource was different to that of Vaughan Williams or Gustav Holst: “Only once did he consciously use a folk tune and he was not sufficiently a purist to leave it alone even then.”  Scott-Sutherland noted the use of the A chailín donn deas na gcíocha bána in the Phantasy and provided musical examples of the original tune and Bax’s elaboration. Here it is subject to ever more decoration and ornamentation resulting in a melody that “is expressive almost always of heightened emotion and excess passion and is born of a reluctance to complete the cadence or progression without dwelling on its beauties.” Scott-Sutherland does not mention Bax’s allusion/quotation of the Sinn Féin song, Amhrán na bhFiann.

In his biography of Bax, Lewis Foreman (2007, p.192) simply explains that the Phantasy was a result of Bax “re-establishing contact” with Tertis after the war. He states that it “is divided into three movements which play continuously and are interrelated thematically. The orchestration is light, eschewing the lower brass, and the invention is among the most memorable Bax ever penned.” He notes the “passing appearance in the bass” of the Sinn Féin Marching Song. Finally, Foreman considers that the “concerto, with its modal tonality, has an unmistakably Celtic flavour. It was to be Bax’s only completely joyous ‘Irish’ work.”

Conclusion: The final word about this remarkable Phantasy for viola must go to Bax enthusiast, Edwin Evans. He perspicaciously sensed that “If it had been produced abroad, and played by somebody with an unpronounceable name, we should have been smothered with articles about the viola, its master, and the composer. We are so constituted that after this performance it may be put back on the shelf for many months, and that will be our loss.” (Cited in liner notes Dutton Epoch CDLX 7295).

How right he was. Despite a few subsequent performances in Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, it never really caught on. Bax enthusiasts are lucky that there have been four recordings made of this Phantasy over the past 34 years.

Brief Bibliography:
Foreman, Lewis, Bax: A Composer and his Times (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1983, 1987, 2007)
Parlett, Graham, A Catalogue of the Works of Sir Arnold Bax (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1999)
Scott-Sutherland, Colin, Arnold Bax (London, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1973)
Tertis, Lionel, My Viola and I, (London, Paul Elek, 1974)
White, John, Lionel Tertis, The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2006)
The files of the Bax Society Bulletin Daily Mail, the Daily Express, Musical Opinion, The Pall Mall Gazette, The Scotsman, The Times.
Additional information and contemporary reviews supplied by the late Graham Parlett with thanks.

Discography:

1. Vernon Handley/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rivka Golani (viola), Phantasy for viola and orchestra, Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, op.85 (arr. for viola) and 3 Characteristic, Pieces, op.10 Conifer CDCF 171 (original LP release on CFC 171) (1989)
2. Stephen Bell/BBC Concert Orchestra, Roger Chase (viola), Phantasy for viola and orchestra, Ralph Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and small orchestra, Theodore Holland: Ellingham Marches for viola and orchestra and Richard Harvey: Reflections for viola and small orchestra. Dutton Epoch CDLX 7295 (2012)
3. Andrew Davies/BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Philip Dukes (viola), Phantasy for viola and orchestra, Four Orchestral Pieces and Overture, Elegy and Rondo. Chandos CHAN 10829 (2014)
4. János Kovács/Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Hong-Mei Xiao (viola), Phantasy for viola and orchestra, William Walton: Viola Concerto and Ralph Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and small orchestra, Delos DE3486 (2017)

Concluded.

With thanks to the Arnold Bax Website where this essay was first published.