The good news is that, while we are waiting for the remaining three instalments in David Lloyd-Jones’s Bax symphony cycle, those kind folk at Naxos will be turning their attentions to the composer’s chamber output. If succeeding releases match the superior quality of the present collection, newcomers and experienced Baxians alike will be in for a treat.
Mobius is a gifted young London-based ensemble comprising seven prize-winning instrumentalists from four different countries, and their scrupulously shaded, fervent playing betokens a very real empathy with this gorgeous repertoire. In both the Elegiac Trio and Harp Quintet these artists favour a more boldly etched, less delicately evanescent approach than that of the Nash Ensemble (which is perhaps marginally more successful in distilling the poignant heartache of two works indissolubly associated with the tragic events of the 1916 Easter Rising). Especially valuable here is the impassioned rendering of the marvellous Fantasy Sonata for harp and viola of 1927. Certainly, harpist Alison Nicholls (such a beguiling presence throughout) copes heroically with the daunting technical and physical demands of Bax’s giddily accomplished writing (tailored for the virtuosity of the great Russian harpist, Maria Korchinska); moreover, she is splendidly partnered by violist Ashan Pillai. Likewise, the engagingly relaxed Sonata for Flute and Harp that Bax subsequently reworked into his Concerto for Seven Instruments (Chandos, 5/98) emerges with delightful freshness, its plangent central ‘Cavatina’ as haunting as ever.
Sound and balance are just fine, and the excellent booklet-essay comes courtesy of Lewis Foreman, who also lent his considerable editorial expertise to the whole venture (the otherwise admirable performance of the Sonata for Flute and Harp on the French Arion label uses a corrupt version of the text). Terrific value and strongly recommended.'