Talk:Symphony No. 3 (Bax)

"For the second movement of his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Ralph Vaughan Williams quoted the theme from the Epilogue of the third movement of Bax's symphony." Since the Vaughan Williams two-piano concerto is merely an arrangement of his one-soloist concerto, surely the quote would appear in both? - 152.76.1.244 (talk) 08:21, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

At the moment it would seem it appears in neither - Parlett says it WAS introduced into the single piano version of the RVW concerto, and was later removed by VW. Whether it ever appeared in the two-piano version we are not told.Delahays (talk) 16:04, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

The acknowledged source of the idea that the work has a "legendary" character seems to be David Ewen, who may well himself have got the idea from a Musical Times article published in March 1930, before the world premiere performance, written by R.H. Hull. The article stresses Bax's reservations about this notion as follows. "It is his opinion, however, that he was not definitely aware of such an influence at the time of writing the Symphony and that the second movement does not share this in any way".Delahays (talk) 14:51, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

Sorry to go on about this work. Analysis without quotation is a minefield. But the expression "main melodic motive" in the discussion of the first movement is more and more unhelpful as the listener gets to know the piece. The opening bassoon theme recurs, arguably organically, both in its original and in varied form, in ALL the movements, e.g. accompanying the opening horn theme of the central one almost from its outset. If there is a consistently recognisable "main melodic motive" for the entire work this is it. Not acknowledging it as such isn't very helpful, especially in a work which is probably better known to octogenarian survivors from a time when it was regularly heard in Britain, as it hasn't been since the aftermath of Bax's death, than to others. I think another area in which some discussion is needed is Bax's use of very long slow sections in, particularly, the first movement, where much of the harmonic sense is underlined by extended tempo contrast. On the grounds that Bax pursued an early girlfriend to Russia, the Tchaikovsky of the Pathetique is often conscripted here. However that may be, the listener has to remain on top of the unpredictable pace of the harmony which can be even more deceptive than the mid-European tonal music of Bax's contemporariesDelahays (talk) 14:20, 22 September 2022 (UTC)