Achim Breiling was considering:

>the Chandos complete recordings by Bryden Thomson, as this box is
>now available at bargain price.

IIRC, the box contains just the symphonies.  If this is the case, then
there's a deal more orchestral Bax to explore.  The original issues of
the symphonies on Chandos included some of the tone poems as fillers,
but there are three CDs devoted to other tone poems, one of which (CHAN
8464) contains the important Spring Fire which Bax regarded as a symphony,
although it's unnumbered.  There are also other CDs containing the cello
concerto (CHAN 8494) and, quite recently, the violin concerto (CHAN 9003).
CHAN 8484 contains Winter Legends and A Saga Fragment, both for piano and
orchestra, and CHAN 9715 has In Memoriam for orchestra, Concertante for
Piano Left Hand and Orchestra, and a song cycle, The Bard of the
Dimbovitza.

Of the symphonies I've been able to compare between the Chandos and Naxos
versions, I don't think there's a lot in it, and I found Lloyd-Jones more
dramatic in #1 than Thomson.  Unfortunately, what I regard as the best #1,
Myer Fredman's on Lyrita, is nla.  I strongly support Len Mullenger's
thoughts on #1's slow movement which I sometimes play in isolation as a
tone poem.  It has some deliciously sinister moments and an unusually
satisfying climax.

Another excellent CD is ASV WHL 2058, which has Bax's music for David
Lean's wonderful version of Oliver Twist - one of my favourite films - and
Malta GC, and a short rhapsody Malcolm Arnold wrote based on his music for
The Sound Barrier.

Richard Pennycuick
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