The Nash Ensemble - Bax: Nonet, Oboe & Harp Quintets, Clarinet Sonata & Elegie (1996)

Tracklist

01. Nonet: I. Molto moderato – Lento
02. Nonet: II. Allegro – Lento espressivo
03. Oboe Quintet: I. Tempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato – Tempo primo
04. Oboe Quintet: II. Lento espressivo
05. Oboe Quintet: III. Allegro giocoso – Più lento – Vivace
06. Elegiac Trio
07. Clarinet Sonata: I. Molto moderato
08. Clarinet Sonata: II. Vivace
09. Harp Quintet

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.

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