interpreted by GORDON BRYAN
ARNOLD BAx : A Hill Tune ; Country Tune ; Lullaby; In a Vodka Shop
A RNOLD BAX (born 1883). one of the foremost present-day composers, was trained at the Royal Academy of Music, studying composition under Frederick Corder. His music was first heard in public in 1903, and since then ho has written many large Choral, Orchestral and Chamber works, besides Piano pieces and many subtle and fragrant songs, in which there is often a wistful tenderness. He has a Celtic strain in him, and so it is not surprising that he has given us some sensitive and charming expressions of moods both in keyboard music and in songs.
In A Hill Tune the right hand sets up a soft rippling figure of accompaniment beneath which the left hand starts a tune of a quasi-Irish character.
In a Vodka Shop is a recollection of scenes witnessed during a trip to Russia. ' Coarse and rough' is the direction at the head of this piece.