Sir Arnold Bax - Spring Fire (1913)

Written in 1913 for the 1914 Norwich Festival, Spring Fire is one of the first real program works from Bax's pen. It was dedicated to Henry Wood and although the première was postponed mainly because of the extreme technical difficulty of the piece, it was rescheduled for 1916, only to be cancelled due to a certain unpleasantness then taking place in Europe. Eventually, it was December 1970 before the first performance took place, under the auspices of the Bax Society. It is scored for a typically large orchestra and in the words of the composer's own program note is intended to evoke "...the first uprush and impulse of Spring in the woods."---Description by Tim Mahon

VIDEO: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Vernon Handley
 I. The Forest Before Dawn - 00:00 II. Daybreak and Sunrise - 3:28 III. Full Day - 7:12 IV. Woodland Love - Romance - 14:37 V. Maenads - 22:57