Are Bax Advocates Doing Enough?

by Richard R. Adams

Why does Bax remain so underperformed in the concert hall whilst at the same time recordings of his music proliferate? Critical opinion appears to be turning in Bax’s favor if more recent reviews in the musical press are anything to go by, and his music obviously sells CDs otherwise labels like Naxos and Chandos wouldn’t be so dedicated to his cause. Recordings of Bax’s music are even winning coveted prizes such as the recent Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording of the Year so why is it that all this success isn’t resulting in more concert performances of his music?

Concert promoters and managements are the most obvious culprits as they decide what gets played based on what they believe sells tickets. BBC Proms Controller Nicholas Kenyon has told us that because previous Bax programs didn’t sell well a generation ago, it’s unlikely that Bax on a program today will do any better. There’s not a scrap of logic to his argument, only a bold display of Mr. Kenyon’s anti-Bax bias. We all know that fashions change and Bax’s newfound popularity on record would suggest that there is a sizable concert audience out there for his music. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing for sure unless it is scheduled and so far there are few signs that promoters and managements are willing to take a chance on Bax. The optimist in me believes that within a couple more years, we’ll see more Bax symphonies, tone poems and chamber music on high-profile programs although when that time occurs, concert promoters and managements may encounter some frustrating problems.

On average I hear from at least one musician a week who writes to the Bax site with inquiries about how to locate a particular score. By the time most musicians come to me, they’ve explored the usual avenues for acquiring scores such as the big music publishers - including Bax’s own, Warner’s Chappell Music. The message they often receive from these sources is that the score they are looking for is out-of-print and/or individual parts are not available. Those of us who are trying to add Bax study scores to our library are well aware of this problem. Such Bax standards as the Second and Fourth Symphonies, “November Woods” and “ Garden of Fand ” are only available from publishers in the form of photocopies from out-of-print sources, and they usually cost a fortune as these copies all have to be made by hand. The situation is more complicated for the performing artist who also has to negotiate the financial arrangements with a publisher who owns the copyright to the music they want to perform. When these musicians come to me, I almost always refer them to the sole source that has the authority to secure performing rights and locate scores, namely the Bax Trust. What’s worrying me, though, is that many of the musicians I am referring are coming back to me with reports that the Trust was unable to help them. This indicates to me that the situation with Bax’s scores is dire or at least more complicated than I had previously believed.

Unfortunately, many of the musicians seeking Bax scores decide that locating the music is too difficult and decide to program something else. This was the case with a group of musicians from one of Europe ’s most renowned symphony orchestras who wanted to perform Bax’s “Octet”. Their effort to secure the parts was met with lack of either interest or support, so they decided to program music that was more readily available…an understandable course of action for the players but very bad news for the promotion of Arnold Bax’s music.

The situation is even more complicated for scores that were never published such as the Symphony Sonata in E flat or the piano versions of “The Happy Forest” or “Nympholept.” Any pianist trying to track down a copy of these scores would have his work cut out for him or her as very few copies exist. Bax’s original manuscripts can be found in the British Library but they are difficult to read. Lewis Foreman and Graham Parlett have done sterling work recopying many of these scores for other musicians to play but often a private score may be loaned out to someone who then hordes or misplaces it and that score is effectively removed from circulation. There have been at least two recent examples of this that I’m aware of. A larger scale horror story involves the parts to the orchestral work “Christmas Eve”. Bryden Thomson and the London Philharmonic recorded this work for Chandos in the mid 1980s. The musicians were playing from the only existing set of parts. When the sessions ended, the parts were lost and neither Chappell, Chandos nor the LPO have any idea what happened to them. Almost 20 years have passed since that recording was made and the parts have never turned up. I don’t know what effort was made to search for them following their disappearance but I’m sure it was minimal. All this means is that if a recording company or orchestra wants to play or record a new version of “Christmas Eve”, a whole new set of parts will have to be produced, and as that process would prove prohibitively expensive, it’s unlikely any recordings or performances of “Christmas Eve” will be taking place soon.

When you hear stories such as this, you begin to realize that Bax’s poor standing in the concert hall may have as much to do with the unavailability of parts as any perceived bias on the part of promoters and orchestral managers. As Bax wrote so much music it’s understandable that a lot of it should be out-of-print and inaccessible, but we’d hope that every effort might be made by those who promote Bax to ensure that his music is available to any musicians who want to perform his music.

The bigger figures in British music such as Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Walton and Delius have very large and active trusts or societies that are dedicated to promoting their composer and assisting musicians and scholars requesting access to the music. Bax needs a similar organization that will work with and persuade Chappell to edit and issue new editions and parts for Bax scores that are out of print or need correcting (the Violin Concerto is an example of a published score littered with errors). This organization could also serve as a resource to musicians instructing them (perhaps through a web site) how and where to locate scores and assist them with working out any copyright problems, etc. This same agency would help to promote concert performances as well as new recordings and to generate interest in its activities, it could issue a newsletter or journal. Currently, the Bax Trust performs some of these functions but on a very small scale. I suspect it has slimmer resources and fewer staff available than do the societies and trusts of Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Walton, etc, but as interest in Bax’s music increases, it will become necessary for the Bax Trust to expand also and I hope it has a plan for doing so. At the very least, the Bax Trust should be encouraging and welcoming support from those organizations and individual that are willing to assist it in its efforts and vice versa. The bottom line is that no musician who has a desire to play or record anything by Bax should have to search without assistance or come away from those responsible for advocating for Bax empty handed.