Arnold Bax
Arnold Bax
Piano Works, Volume 4
(avg)
Music for Two Pianos
Artists: Ashley Wass and Martin Roscoe
Label: Naxos
CD No: 8.570413
This is the fourth offering of piano music by Arnold Bax on the
Naxos label. Pianist Ashley Wass, who has recorded the three
previous discs, teams up with the internationally acclaimed Martin
Roscoe to present us with a disc of Bax's works for two pianos.
It must be said that until hearing this disc I was unfamiliar with
Bax's chamber music and while dreading some densely-written
Brahms-style textures we are instead presented with some
outstandingly melodic and exciting music that, if Wass and
Roscoe's performance is anything to go by, is as much a joy to
play as it is to listen to.
The disc opens with the sparkling Festival Overture, in which Wass
and Roscoe burst forth in full vigour to catch us by the scruff of
the neck and announce immediately that this is both skilful playing
and music that must be heard.
The recital includes three substantial works in total, including
the Sonata for Two Pianos, a work not unlike the piano writing of
Shostakovich, with bright and engaging outer movements shrouding a
delicate and lyrical middle movement. Finally, Moy Mell (An Irish
Tone-Poem) is a work of wonderful imagination and vivid fairy-like
scenery.
The shorter works are The Poisoned Fountain, The Devil that Tempted
St Anthony, Red Autumn and finally the concert encore, Hardanger.
These shorter pieces share a similar musical ambiguity in their
deliberately atmospheric writing, often switching between thick,
forceful, chordal passages and more intimate and gentle textures.
Wass and Roscoe extol the full gamut of technical and virtuosic
skill in an interesting and exciting programme. This is indeed an
excellent disc with enviable merits that any recording pianist
would be glad to put their name to. Andrew
King
This review was submitted by a Muso reader and the opinions
expressed reflect solely the opinions of the writer, not those of
Muso magazine or its publisher. Muso cannot guarantee the accuracy
of any information provided
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