Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra – Arnold Bax

Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra by Arnold Bax

Bax completed this work for piano and orchestra in 1918. The work has an unusual structure. It is not a piano concerto, or a theme and variations. The work includes 8 sections, each bearing a different name and conveying a different atmospheric theme.

The work was composed specifically to accommodate the smaller hand span of the pianist Harriet Cohen, whom Bax was having an affair with at the time. Bax would grant Cohen full performance rights to the work, but the score was thought lost when Cohens’ house was bombed during the blitz of 1940. Fortunately, the separate parts of the score were located and the original manuscript recreated.

The eight sections of this work are titled as followed:
I. Part I. Theme: Lento espressivo
II. Var. 1, ‘Youth’: Allegro: Restless and tumultuous
III. Var. 2, ‘Nocturne’: Slow and serene: Broadly
IV. Var. 3, ‘Strife’: Allegro vivace
a. Var. 3 Part II.
V. Var. 4, ‘The Temple’: Slow and solemn
VI. Var. 5, ‘Play’: Scherzo: Allegretto vivace - Intermezzo: ‘Enchantment’: Very moderate tempo
VII. Var. 6, ‘Triumph’: Moderate tempo - Glowing and passionate