Editing Arnold Bax (section)

===Chamber and solo piano music===
[[File:Bax-Second-Violin-Sonata-scherzo.jpg|thumb|alt=bars of printed score for solo violin and piano accompaniment|upright=2|Scherzo of Bax's Second Violin Sonata (1915)]]
In his overview of Bax's earlier chamber works, Evans identifies as among the most successful the Phantasy for viola, the Trio for piano, violin, and viola and "a String Quintet of such difficulty that an adequate performance has seldom if ever been possible". He rates the Second Violin Sonata (1915) as the composer's most individual work to that date. For Evans, the culminating point of Bax's early chamber music was the Piano Quintet, a work "of such richness of invention that it would be an ornament to the musical literature of any country or period".<ref>Evans (April 1919), p. 154</ref>  Foreman makes particular mention of the First String Quartet (1918 – "a classical clarity of texture and form to its Celtic inspiration", and the "grittier" Second Quartet (1925), the Viola Sonata (1922), the Phantasy Sonata for viola and harp (1927) and the Sonata for Flute and Harp (1928).<ref name=grove/>

The composer and musical scholar [[Christopher Palmer]] points out that Bax was unusual among British composers in composing a substantial oeuvre for solo piano.{{refn|Palmer comments that of the major British composers, Elgar, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Walton and Britten showed little interest in the solo piano and seldom wrote for it.<ref name=cp2>Palmer, Christopher (1988). Notes to Chandos CD 8497, OCLC 602145160</ref>|group= n}} Bax published four piano sonatas (1910–32), which are, in Palmer's view, as central to the composer's piano music as the symphonies are to the orchestral output.<ref name=cp1>Palmer, Christopher (1987). Notes to Chandos CD 8496, OCLC 602371238</ref> The first two sonatas are each in a single movement, of about twenty minutes; the third and fourth are in conventional three-movement form.<ref name=cp2/><ref name=cp1/> The First Symphony was originally planned as a large-scale piano sonata in E{{music|flat}} (1921); the manuscript score of the latter came to light in the early 1980s and was performed for the first time in 1983.<ref>Foreman, Lewis (1994). Notes to Continuum CD CCD 1045 DDD, OCLC 223356733</ref>        Bax's own virtuosity as a pianist is reflected in the demands of many of his piano pieces. Palmer cites [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] as major influences on Bax's piano style as well as Balakirev and the other Russians whose influence is seen throughout the composer's work.<ref name=cp2/> For piano duo Bax composed two tone poems, ''Moy Mell'' (1917) and ''Red Autumn'' (1931).<ref name=cp1/> His shorter piano pieces include picturesque miniatures such as ''In a Vodka Shop'' (1915), ''A Hill Tune'' (1920) and ''Water Music'' (1929).<ref name=cp2/>