Of other pieces much could be written. There is, for example, his pretty bulky contribution to pianoforte literature. A Toccata (1913) dedicated to Hamilton Harty, director of the Hallé Concerts in Manchester, is marked allegro brillante. It must certainly be played allegro to have the exhilarating effect intended, and if thus played its brilliance will be plainly evident. Mediterranean (1920) discloses the composer with a modern guitar under his arm - a pleasant fragment, from which, notwithstanding its relative straightforwardness, the commonplace is mercifully absent. This can be said also of A Hill Tune (1920) where, in characteristic manner, the melody is ushered in on the left hand, the right being occupied with groups of five notes. After a brief discussion of it, this theme comes into prominence, to reappear finally in faint and subtle echoes above chords that seem to belong to some enchanted region.
Burlesque (1920) does not belie its title. When he likes, Bax can throw his cap into the air with as much glee as any schoolboy. In this Dionysian work he lets himself go, now piping his little theme in the altitudes, now plunging into the depths of the piano with thirdless chords, or reiterated octaves. A humorous stroke is the variant of the motif in the bass, “quasi fagotto.” [1] The last two- or three-lines ought to carry an audience off its feet. May Night in the Ukraine (1912), another notable addition to piano music, cannot be called conventional. In the Gopak (1912) an almost barbaric theme is tossed about with an immense amount of vigour and abandon. Of In a Vodka Shop (1915), so well-known, it is hardly necessary to speak. The three pieces last mentioned are, I take it, the fruits of a visit which Bax paid to Russia. [2] Add to the above such things, as his Violin Sonata in E, packed full of good stuff, and the effective String Quartet in G, dedicated to Elgar, well written for the instruments, and containing not a dull bar, and you will realize that Bax has contributed his quota to modern music. I do not know whether the songs of Bax are widely known; if not, they should be, if I may judge by those I have heard. Aspiration (1909) strikes me as a pure inspiration. The idea on which it is built up possesses that kind of exaltation which we find so often in Elgar. Parting (1916), to name another, emanated from a poet. To a Christmas Carol (1909) (fifteenth century), the composer imparts an archaic flavour with all the taste and cunning he can command. Very unpretentious is A Milking Sian (1907) and, to notice but one further example, The Enchanted Fiddle (1907) comes from the pen of the exuberant, laughing Bax, who loved that strange figure which came out of the West with a fiddle stolen from a Genoese ship. How unmistakably the music tells us that “earth too was made for laughter!” Bax is not likely to vex himself about the state of parties in the world of musical politics. He is a composer; if you want to know what he has to say, search his music. As will readily be guessed by those who are conversant with his work, in his sight the new is not antagonistic to the old. He realizes that the great majority of people are conservative and incurious; they love to hear the pieces with which they are familiar. There is, naturally, a certain satisfaction in seeing the composer of a work conduct it. But, as he put it to me, “people would like it just the same, even if he stuck his head through a hoop.” This sort of inquisitiveness about a composer is, to his mind, a very shallow thing. Of those who go to see a composer conduct, rather than to hear his music, how many could name one of his compositions a week later? In the course of a recent interview which I had with him, Bax emphasized the necessity for the repetition of modern works. There is a great deal to be said in this connection. No doubt, some pieces is not L’Aprés-midi d’un Faune [3] one of them - now highly esteemed, fell flat at first. When I saw him, he was, he remarked, “snowed up” correcting proofs. Books, and pictures, and music paper galore - that, outwardly, was the setting of the scene in London. But we do not need to be told that, when he chooses, he can rub shoulders with the folk of the fifteenth century, or, like a Peter Pan, fly to those delectable regions of the imagination which he knows so well.
Notes:[1] Like a basson!
[2] In 1910, Arnold Bax followed Natalia Skarzhinska to Ukraine, where he fell deeply in love. Though the romance faded, it profoundly shaped his emotional world and inspired poetic, Slavic-tinged music.
[3] Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894) is an innovative orchestral work that evokes the dreamy sensuality of Mallarmé’s poem, marking a turning point in modern music.
Concluded
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