Symphony No.3 in C - Arnold Bax

BBC Philharmonic conducted by Vernon Handley

I - Lento moderato - Allegro moderato - Lento moderato - Allegro moderato : 0:00
II - Lento: 16:46
III - Moderato - Piu mosso - Tempo I - Epilogue. Poco lento: 28:00

The third symphony of Bax was written during the autumn of 1928 and completed in the month of February 1929. The work was composed in Morar, which would be the place where for ten years Bax would compose most of his works, as previously he had done in Donegal, on the coast of Ireland. Morar is located on the Atlantic coast of northern Scotland, in the county of Inverness. There he settled in the Station Hotel, working in a cold unheated room in near-polar conditions. It was the first winter that passed away from the bustling London. Somehow he finished one of the chapters of his life.

The work is dedicated to the great director Sir Henry Wood, who was doing so much to make known his works and that of many other British composers. It premiered in 1930 in the Queen's Hall in London directed by Wood, reaching great success. It soon became one of his most popular symphonies. As if it were an act of disrepute, Bax never wanted to reveal the literary meaning of this work. The only reference consists of some verses taken from Nietzsche that he had written on the cover of his reduced score, but which he eliminated in the published one.

"My wisdom has magnified itself in the lonely mountains;
on arid rocks, it has given birth to her children "

The first movement begins with a very chromatic theme introduced by the bassoon. The work no longer has a defined tonality as its first two symphonies. The initial theme is developed in a contrapuntal way by other wind instruments, reaching a climax. On a recurring theme of the basses of the strings, wood presents a second theme almost liturgical. This slow part is followed by an allegro of great strength, with an almost dancing rhythm. We find an alternation between slow and fast sections, with sharp changes of tempo. The central part is occupied by an extensive lento moderato. A slow meditation initiated by the strings that occupies almost half of the movement. The final part, as a kind of recapitulation, begins with the first theme in the violas. Follow a very aggressive fast section that culminates in a great climax, followed again by the slow theme. A powerful coda ends the movement with brutal force.

The second movement begins with horn calls exposing a first theme. The viola presents us with the second theme on the pizzicato of the strings. The trumpet repeats the first theme that introduces us to a world with marine influences. A third theme that is presented by the tube, where we find the resonances of the Atlantic cliffs, is developed after. The use of the harp and the celesta lends its decorative support. The music reaches a climax with great use of chromatism. The last part is quieter, presenting as a recapitulation the second and third theme, ending sweetly.

The last movement has a strong rhythmic element from the children's song "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son", presented by violas and clarinets, after a harmonic introduction. This part combines the scherzo with the final movement. A contrasting lyrical theme presented by the clarinets also serves as a trio. A theme that contains allusions to Rimsky Korsakov, peppered with notes in the style of Gershwin. The recapitulation of the first theme brings us to the final part in the form of an extensive epilogue. The music of contemplative nature occupies the last part of the work, with a wide melody in the wood. followed by a very personal sound section, a mystical experience according to Bax, difficult to describe. The repetition of the melodic theme by the wood leads us to the contained coda.

The middle part of the epilogue with its magical sonorities was suggested in Breaghy, near Dunfanaghy on the other side of Donegal County. There he had been invited by the poet George Russell, to the place where every September he went to paint. He listened to the strange sounds in the forest by the sea, which he later wanted to reproduce in his score.

Picture: Stage design for Mozart's Magic Flute (1815) by the Prussian artists Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

Sources: http://www.historiadelasinfonia.es/historia-2/siglo-xx/bax/

Видео Symphony No.3 in C - Arnold Bax канала Sergio Cánovas