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Pastures at Malahide by Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831-1917)
The National Gallery of Ireland
CDA66807


View sleeve notes/artwork (PDF)
Recording details: June 1995
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: February 1996
Total duration: 72 minutes 41 seconds

GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE / CRITICS' CHOICE

'Performances of exemplary quality' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

'Lovers of Bax's lushly romantic, turbulently Celtic symphonies and tone poems will find much that is alluring in this selection ... Moments of sweeping rhapsody abound throughout the disc. Seriously smitten Baxians will be thrilled by this new CD' (Classic CD)

'How marvellous it is after all these years to be able to welcome a truly first-rate modern recording of Bax's Nonet. What a bewitching creation it is … This treasurable Hyperion release will certainly figure in my 'Critics' Choice' list at the end of the year … Music-making of exquisite poise and remarkable perception' (Gramophone)

'This collection serves Bax admirably and contains some real discoveries' (BBC Music Magazine)

'C'est ici la quintessence de la magie baxienne' (Diapason, France)

Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953)
Nonet & other chamber music
The Nash Ensemble
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
Nonet
1
Movement 1: Molto moderato – Lento  [9'58]
2
Movement 2: Allegro – Lento espressivo  [8'12]
Oboe Quintet
3
Movement 1: Tempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato – Tempo primo  [5'07]
4
Movement 2: Lento espressivo  [7'16]
5
Movement 3: Allegro giocoso – Più lento – Vivace  [4'10]
6
Elegiac Trio  [9'32]
Clarinet Sonata
7
Movement 1: Molto moderato  [8'54]
8
Movement 2: Vivace – Pochettino meno posso. Lento  [5'00]
Harp Quintet
9
Movement 1: Tempo moderato  [14'32]

Bax was born in South London, the eldest son of a nonconformist family. At the age of seventeen a love affair with all things Irish began after he read the poetry of Yeats: 'The Celt within me stood revealed'.

Several of the important chamber works on this recording reflect this Irish love affair, the Elegiac Trio being a response to the tragic events following the Easter Rising in 1916. The serenade-like Nonet and Clarinet Sonata are deliciously 'heart-on-sleeve' works of yearningly lyrical melodies, while the oboe and harp quintets show Bax's pioneering enthusiasm for the precise sound of individual instruments in sometimes unfamiliar groupings.