Some list members may not know that the Bryden Thomson Bax Symphony cycle
on Chandos is currently available at 25 Pounds Sterling or less, for a
limited period - and they may be interested in reading my revisitation
of the set, written for Richard Adams's Sir Arnold Bax Website ...  [I
searched for the review on the web for almost 20 minutes, then gave up,
so I've included the review Christopher sent below (typically it is only
necessary to include the URL to something that's already on the web -
assuming of course it can be found.  -Dave]

Arnold Bax - The Complete Symphonies
The London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra (No.4)
conducted by Bryden Thomson

(Chandos CHAN 8906-10 5-disc set, issued 1990
Available 25 Pounds Sterling for a limited period)

For nearly a decade Chandos kept Bax's symphonic works before the record
buying public, almost in splendid isolation.  Nobody could have begrudged
paying premium price for an integral recording which seemed unlikely to
be surpassed.  That lumbering, adjectival big gun 'definitive' was often
wheeled out to praise Bryden Thomson's readings, and if it sometimes blew
up in the faces of The Faithful ("If this is definitive, then I don't like
Bax") many a love affair with these fascinating works was initiated by this
cycle.

Times change, and reviewing opinion is fickle.  Although most of the
matchless Lyrita versions remain unavailable, the emergence of Naxos's
award-winning bargains under David Lloyd-Jones has brought about a
revaluation of the Thomson discs.  Their critical stock has fallen.
Chandos have responded sensibly by offering their set of the Symphonies at
under half the list price.  Indeed, with a little shopping around you can
get this Bax Box for under 20 Pounds, at which price this has to one of the
CD bargains of the year.  Whatever else needs to be said, my recommendation
to the bereft is very simple - buy this box now!

Criticism of the Thomson cycle has centred on alleged over-indulgence, in
performance and recorded sound, to the detriment of structural integrity.
As far as the technical side is concerned, I have lived happily with the
original LP's for years, and listening to these CD transfers has certainly
been a shock to the system.  Played at a high level on good equipment
the LP's had a wide dynamic range and lucidity of detail which more than
compensated for the swimming-bath acoustic and distant balance.  Of their
kind, they were demonstration issues.  Not so most of these CD's, where
dynamic range is cramped and orchestral detail smudged.  The sound is
colourful, but coarse and one-dimensional after the LP's.  The once-sweet
brass brays stridently at climaxes, where the strings are submerged in a
vague wash of sound.

Other problems? Well, the fillers are gone, though most of them are
available collected on CHAN 9168.  Then, the arrangement of the package
itself - a 4-disc double case plus a single for the 7th Symphony - leaves
something to be desired, especially when the 4th is split across two discs,
thus losing one of the crucial advantages of CD over LP format.  On the
other hand, the box and booklet are handsomely produced.  Lewis Foreman's
solidly informative notes on the symphonies and their context are well
worth having, and there are some evocative photos and musical illustrations
to ring the changes.

In general, what can newcomers expect from Thomson's performances
themselves? Thomson gives us Bax the 'Brazen Romantic', and this time
round I found myself excited time and again by his cycle's sensuality,
depth and weight; and no less by some thrilling, virtuoso playing from the
two orchestras.  In the slow movements especially, Thomson conjures up a
supercharged world of feeling, sometimes generalised but rarely forced.
These are unashamedly big readings of big pieces, on a larger emotional
canvas than Lloyd-Jones's nice versions.  The opening bars of the
cataclysmic 2nd Symphony are a case in point.  Here Lloyd Jones gives us
the notes, but Thomson manages to suggest some strange, primeval horror
lurking just beneath the surface, ready to burst forth in all its power.
Structure in Bax is surely a matter of texture as well as form, and in only
a few instances - notably the slow movement of the 2nd and the first of the
7th - did I sense any serious drift in musical logic, or become distracted
by some less than first-class ensemble.  Although he is certainly prepared
to encourage individual expressiveness, allowing his players to dwell in
the moment wherever Bax allows them the opportunity, it is a caricature to
suggest that Thomson's readings sprawl.

Admittedly, his 7th fails to makes a likeable work add up to more than
the sum of its parts.  His 2nd and 3rd are not wholly successful, either,
though in both cases the emotional voltage makes up for any lapses in
tension, and the warm spaciousness Thomson allows to the slow movement
of the 3rd is intensely moving.  The 1st and 6th are strong and generally
cogent readings, the 5th forceful and powerfully assured throughout.  Best
of all is the 4th, that misunderstood Cinderella amongst Bax symphonies,
and the first of Chandos's cycle to be made.  This award-winning Belfast
recording with the Ulster Orchestra suffers far less than its LPO
successors from the technical compromises needed to tame the All Saints
Church, Tooting acoustic for CD transfer - significantly, the equally
excellent 5th wasn't recorded there, but in the tighter ambience of St
Jude's, London NW11.

As for the 4th Symphony itself, Thomson aligns Bax's Hebridean mosaic
with other 20th Century Nature Symphonies - Sibelius 6th and Honegger
4th come to mind - as a work where the current runs deep without the
need for overtly human angst.  Integration in the 4th is a more subtle
business than thematic analysis would allow, and Thomson's relish of Bax's
imaginative orchestration makes out a compelling case for what was once -
understandably - the composer's most popular symphony.  This may be the
finest achievement of the set, but in truth not one of these Chandos
performances sells the listener short on large-scale emotion, orchestral
power or sensuous musicality.  Whatever its flaws, Thomson's cycle
continues to offer the most consistently recommendable introduction
to Bax's world, and at this price it is simply not to be missed.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"