Romantic Overture

Composer: BAX, Sir Arnold
  • Romantic Overture is a single-movement work for piano and chamber orchestra written in 1926. Unlike a piano concerto, the piano in this piece is a member of the ensemble rather than a solo voice. That being said, the piano still features more prominently than a typical orchestral-piano part and seems to be leading the orchestra, in a way.
  • The first performance of the overture took place in London in 1927 with a young John Barbirolli conducting and Rae Robertson on piano.
  • Bax dedicated his overture to fellow English composer Frederick Delius, whom Bax greatly admired.
  • Listen for – a quote from César Frank’s Symphony in d minor. 1

Sources

  1. Lewis Foreman, Essay in accompanying booklet, Bax: Violin Concerto performed by Eric Parkin and the London Philharmonic conducted by Bryden Thomson, CHAN 9003, 1991, compact disc.

Cut IDs

48489