Editing Arnold Bax (section)

===Concertante works===
Bax's first work for solo instrument and orchestra was the 50-minute ''Symphonic Variations'' in E{{music|flat}} (1919), written for Harriet Cohen. ''The Times'' considered it "like one of those deeds of recklessness which in the Army may be followed either by a Court-martial or a V.C. We incline to favour the Court-martial, and to award the V.C. to Miss Harriet Cohen for her part in the enterprise."<ref>"Progress in Music", ''The Times'', 19 April 1924, p. 8</ref>

The Cello Concerto (1932) was Bax's first attempt at a full-scale conventional concerto. It calls for a smaller orchestra than he customarily employed, with no trombones or tuba, and no percussion apart from timpani. Foreman points to many subtleties of scoring, but notes that it has never ranked high among the composer's mature works.<ref name=chandos>Foreman, Lewis (1987). Notes to Chandos CD 8494, OCLC 705060287</ref> The Violin Concerto (1937–38) is, like the last symphony, in a more relaxed vein than most of Bax's earlier music. Cardus singled it out as "unusually fine",<ref name=cardus/> although Heifetz may have felt it not virtuosic enough.<ref>Lloyd (2001), p. 165</ref> The composer described it as in the romantic tradition of [[Joachim Raff]].<ref name=b11/>

Among the minor concertante works is ''Variations on the Name Gabriel Fauré'' (1949) for harp and strings, in a style more neoclassical than most of Bax's music.<ref>[[Edward Greenfield|Greenfield, Edward]]. [http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/english-music-for-strings "English music for strings"], ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'',  retrieved 16 September 2015</ref>  Bax's last concertante piece was a short work for piano and orchestra (1947) written in his capacity as Master of the King's Music, marking [[Elizabeth II|Princess Elizabeth]]'s twenty-first birthday.<ref name=grove/>