Search - Sir Arnold Bax, Mistry Quartet, David Owen Norris :: Bax: Piano Quintet / String Quartet 2

Stunning string quartet, piano quintet almost at that level

06/21/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These performers turn in wonderful performances of two neglected works from early (piano quintet) and not-so-early (string quartet #2) in Bax's career. I am tremendously impressed by both pieces, and think that the performances make very good cases for them (though it would be nice to hear what others, too, could do with these works; there is no such thing, to my mind, as the perfect performance that makes all others superfluous!) Turning to these pieces, the piano quintet, in three movements and in g minor, opens with a long (20-minute) sonata-form with a lovely main theme and a very "Bax" second theme (that should be remembered well, for it is the main theme of the finale). The end of the development and the reemergence of the main theme are memorable... The second movement is remarkable in its atmosphere. The finale begins in minor-mode stress but becomes a G major rondo- until minor-mode stress returns (with the work's one (to my mind) miscalculation, a somewhat overdone and arpeggio-filled moment of truth) and a coda in minor.The quartet is, I think, a "more perfect" work, in three movements I enjoy tremendously. The first movement begins with a motto theme in e minor but finds room for diverse other musics. The F major slow movement in turn finds room for a quote from a famous Bax tonepoem. The finale is based on a transformation of that motto theme, contains a very genuine Bax episode (sorry!- I enjoy it much...), and ends in an emphatic and memorable - E? no!!! G!! major. -Eric Schissel"