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Track(s) taken from CDH55085

Legend

composer
Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953)

Paul Coletti (viola), Leslie Howard (piano)
Recording details: September 1993
St Peter's Church, Petersham, United Kingdom
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Tryggvi Tryggvason
Release date: April 1994
Total duration: 10 minutes 17 seconds
 

Reviews

‘This anthology of 20th-century music for viola and piano was a deserved inclusion in the BBC Music Magazine's 'Top 1000' CD guide. The Scottish-born Paul Coletti is a master of his instrument, and deploys an impressive range of colours. Well partnered by the versatile Leslie Howard, he gives full Romantic expression to Rebecca Clarke's fine 1919 Sonata and Bax's dramtic Legend. And he is a convincing advocate for posthumously published rarities by Britten and Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge's beautifully written diptych, two delightful Grainger miniatures, and two beautiful lullabies by Clarke which alone are worth Helios's modest price’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Coletti’s cello-like tone and Leslie Howard’s sensitive accompaniment highlight the big romantic gestures of the Clarke sonata and also project the fervent nature of works such as Bax’s Legend and Frank Bridge’s irresistible Allegro appassionato’ (Classic FM Magazine)
Bax’s Legend for viola and piano is clearly influenced by his fascination with Celtic folklore. Many of his works show his deep involvement with the myths and legends of this period in our history which created such an impressionable aura. Orchestral works such as Tintagel and The Garden of Fand reflect this in Bax’s output, as others do in a variety of works by Ireland, Howells and Moeran for instance.

The Legend has a thick, gloomy atmosphere, particularly at the start. The whole work is ideally scored for the viola and, once again, the instrument is in its element in this rather elegiac mode. Bax wrote the piece in 1928 between the third and fourth symphonies, when he was in his mid-forties.

from notes by Paul Spicer © 1994

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