Editing Arnold Bax (section)

===Symphonies===
While in Dresden in 1907 Bax began work on what he later called "a colossal symphony which would have occupied quite an hour in performance, were such a cloud-cuckoo dream to become an actuality".<ref>Bax, p. 31</ref> He added "Happily, it never has!", but he left a complete piano sketch, which was orchestrated in 2012–13 by [[Martin Yates]], and recorded for the [[Dutton Vocalion]] label; it lasts for 77 minutes. The four-movement work, more conventional in structure than his completed symphonies, shows a strong Russian influence in its material.<ref name=abw>[http://arnoldbax.com/baxs-early-symphony-in-f-premiere-recording-on-dutton/ "Bax’s early Symphony in F – Premiere recording on Dutton"], The Sir Arnold Bax Website, retrieved 4 October 2015</ref>

Bax wrote his seven completed symphonies between 1921 and 1939. In a study of the seven, David Cox wrote in 1967 that they were "often dismissed as amorphous by those who imagine that Bax consists only of Celtic mistiness and 'atmosphere'. In fact they have considerable strength and frequent astringence; and formally the thematic material is presented with consistency and purpose."<ref>Cox, pp. 155–156</ref> In Herbage's view, the cycle can be seen to fall into two groups – the first three and the last three – with the [[Symphony No. 4 (Bax)|Fourth Symphony]] as "an extrovert interlude between these largely introspective works".<ref name=archive/> Handley agreed that the first three could be grouped together; Foreman sees a Celtic influence in all three, with Bax's emotions about the Easter rising and its aftermath discernible.<ref name=dnb/> The Fourth is generally regarded as a more optimistic work than its predecessors and successors. Handley calls it "festive", but comments that its ideas developed into darker mood in the [[Symphony No. 5 (Bax)|Fifth]] and [[Symphony No. 6 (Bax)|Sixth]].<ref>Anderson, p. 94</ref> The Fifth is, for Herbage, "the greatest ''tour-de-force''"; the Sixth stands out for its "magnificent final movement", which the critic [[Peter J. Pirie]] said "tears the earth up by its roots";<ref>Anderson, p. 95</ref> and the [[Symphony No. 7 (Bax)|Seventh]], in the view of the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', has an elegiac tone, its simplicity far removed from the discursive and complex music of Bax's earlier years.<ref name=archive/><ref name=h556/>