Symphony 2 / Nympholept
List Price:
Our Price: $12.99
You Save: $4.99 (28%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.87 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Arnold BaxConductor: Bryden Thomson
Orchestra: London Philharmonic
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1992-10-28
Music Label: Chandos
Soundtracks:
- Symphony No. 2 In D Minor & C: I - Molto moderato - Allegro maderato
- Symphony No. 2 In D Minor & C: II - Andante
- Symphony No. 2 In D Minor & C: III - Poco largamente - Allegro feroce - Molto largamente
- Nature-Poem For Orchestra: Nympholept
Music reviews of Symphony 2 / Nympholept
Music Review: Apocalyptic Bax
Rating: 5 Stars
The Greek etymology of the word 'apo-caly-psis' means an uncovering of something hidden, in effect a revelation. This term seems particularly appropriate to this incredibly powerful work. Bax has begun his symphonic oeuvre with a shortish and blazing First Symphony which he had entitled with characteristic humor, 'Adventures on the Precipice'. This second sortie investigates some of the same material of introspective nightmare and confusion which he described (in the same quote as) 'In the Abyss'. The first recording of this work I came across was the Lyrita recording of 1971 with Fredman conducting the LPO made in association with Ken Russell Productions. For me, this vinyl recording was a milestone in my listening history. I still recall the 'Stereo Release' broadcast on Radio 3 that Saturday morning in November 1971 when I listened enthralled and appalled that such amazing music was not better known ( I was more naive then and thought that it was the music that mattered alone on a works popularity!). Therefore this newer Digital CD recording had a lot to live up to. To my surprise and delight, Thomson does all this and more with the sparkling recording highlighting all those tonal nuances that Bax treated his listeners with at this time of his career. The impression of this work as a totality is of an ancient saga involving elements of strife, adventure, adversity, cold and merciless beauty, love tied to a dreamy celtic landscape blown by gales and finally a terrifying destruction which is ended by an Epilogue that is uncertain as to what comes next. As ever, Bax gives us universals and we hear no guns or shells in his music as, for example in the first movement of Rubbra's First Symphony. In so doing, Bax is almost uncanny in his musical depiction of nuclear devastation and a landscape of unknown destruction: have we survived this? It must be remembered that the Atomic Bomb was not invented until nearly 20 years later! Thomson gives us every detail of this horrifying tapestry with those all-important Bax horns taking first prize in the call to arms that lead us to this battlefield of the mind, set under boiling gray skies with a poignant lyrical episode under a midnight moon blown by gentle waves of orchestral color. The second movement has one of Bax's best themes played by solo violin which gives us love in the midst of destruction, love as a solace from horror and violence which closes down into the enormous tsunami of the finale with pagan organ on top of orchestra fff, dying down to the querying yet not moribund epilogue. This work is the best he could do and must have 'knocked the socks' off his first audience! My friend from NH, a real character, plays the towering arch of the opening of the finale at full volume to trip out. Try it! Press the 'Order Now' field and get it sent over ASAP! Mind altering substances become redundant if you have a copy of this work. Believe me! Nympholept is Bax in his best fairy mood and its inclusion on this disk makes this not just a musically brilliant CD but a bargain collection too.
More Symphony 2 / Nympholept free music reviews:
1
1
Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.97
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.90
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.35
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Bax Symphony 1 / Christmas EveRelease date: 1992-10-28; Music CD
Best price: $17.98
Bax Symphony No. 3 & Dance of Wild IrravelRelease date: 1992-10-28; Music CD
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: