Bax 5

In the nineteenth century, piano transcriptions were both standard items in the performing repertory and the way most people got to know new music, or in the case of Bach, newly rediscovered music. There are lots of transcriptions for piano of Bach's works for strings, wind instruments, or voices, and Italian-French-American pianist Alessio Bax has dug into the older repertory and forged a program full of fresh items and attractive contrasts.

It has been quite a long time since we had any recorded excerpts from Bax's now legendary score for 'Oliver Twist' let alone a complete score. This issue is doubly welcome for this listener whose home country is immortalized in these fine excerpts from 'Malta GC'!

On his ninth solo album on Signum Records, Alessio Bax combines exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique and is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). Here he presents an album of works for dancing, including tangos and waltzes spanning three centuries. Featuring composers such as J S Bach, Manuel de Falla and Béla Bartók, a variety of cultures are showcased in this album for solo piano and features contributions to an arrangement by Bax himself.

On his ninth solo album on Signum Records, Alessio Bax combines exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique and is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). Here he presents an album of works for dancing, including tangos and waltzes spanning three centuries. Featuring composers such as J S Bach, Manuel de Falla and Béla Bartók, a variety of cultures are showcased in this album for solo piano and features contributions to an arrangement by Bax himself.

Recognised as rising stars of their generation, pianist Ashley Wass and the Tippett Quartet join forces to present two contrasting yet equally engaging British piano quintets. Conceived on a grand, expansive scale and influenced by Celtic music, with all manner of harmonic and instrumental colours exploited to super effect, Arnold Bax’s Quintet is arguably a precursor of his later symphonies.

Saluting an extraordinary composer-conductor relationship, this collection presents almost all Elgar's major orchestral works and the Sea Pictures in the classic recordings made by Sir John Barbirolli towards the end of his life. Barbirolli began as an orchestral cellist, and played under Elgar's baton in the première of the Cello Concerto. Encouraged by Elgar, he moved into conducting and made his mark with the composer's Second Symphony in 1927. Elgar's music was to remain a talisman for the rest of Barbirolli's life.