Latest Release - Arnold Bax 'Spring Fire' (GP.153)

This new edition of Bax's 1913 symphonic fantasy corrects over 400 issues with the autograph manuscript and brings the orchestral parts into the modern day.

This edition was commissioned by Richard Adams (editor of arnoldbax.com) and first performed by BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under John Wilson in February 2024.

If you would like to perform this with your orchestra, please get in touch for a quote.

Instrumentation:

3[1.2.3/picc]3[1.2.3/ca]4[1.2.3.bcl]3[1.2.cbsn]6331.tmp.3-4pc.pno.cel.2hp and strings

Note: this product does not appear in the Catalogue or in the Programme Notes available on this website.

Scores for Purchase

Spring Fire - Full Transposing Score

£73.50

This is a critical edition of Bax's youthful and vibrant tone poem 'Spring Fire'. The full transposing score is presented to a modern typesetting standards and is professionally printed. The plastic spiral coil allows for silent pageturns and it sits flat on music stands.

There are two different sizes of score available. Please ensure you choose

This is a critical edition of Bax's youthful and vibrant tone poem 'Spring Fire'. The full transposing score is presented to a modern typesetting standards and is professionally printed. The plastic spiral coil allows for silent pageturns and it sits flat on music stands.

There are two different sizes of score available. Please ensure you choose the option that suits you best.

B4 is the smaller size (250x353mm) and is most suited to casual users who wish to study the score. A3 is the larger size (297x420mm) and is most suited to conductors who look to perform the work or for those who prefer a larger music font.

Both come with free shipping in the United Kingdom.

NB: this is a pre-order. We will be in touch with a date for when we aim to ship by. If you need this product urgently please email us first.

Hiring Music

If you would like to perform any of Arnold Bax's works with your orchestra, please get in touch for a quote, providing us with as many details as possible about your intended performance.

You will receive up to three conductor's scores (A3) and a full set of orchestral parts (B4). You are also provided with PDFs of all orchestral parts on the day of shipping which you may utilise until the day after the concert.

Please be advised that much of Bax's music is challenging and amateur orchestras and university orchestras would be recommended to study a perusal score before committing to hiring the music. Bax's instrumentation is often large and needs a sizeable string section for best effect.

If you would like to see a perusal score, click here.

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About the Arnold Bax Edition

As a professional orchestral musician, I have seen far too many instrumental parts littered with errors, inconsistencies, or sloppy presentation, often from the largest of music publishers. From a copy of Mahler Symphony No.5 that had the top inch attached purely by sellotape, to a work by Sibelius that notated specific techniques in a way that was not only wrong, but confusing.

This is a set of new editions that places the musician first.

I take the autograph manuscript, diligently crosscheck it for vertical inconsistencies, and ensure every instrument has dynamics and technical instructions (like mute changes or ‘arco'/'pizz.’) in the correct locations. The parts receive special attention to guarantee the best possible pageturn locations and a complete absence of collisions or clashes. Hire material is printed on B4 paper (c.250x350mm) so that it is legible for all players.

My role as editor is to clarify mannerisms and rectify mistakes, with the understanding that the composer's voice is paramount - but with the counter that composers are fallible and that notation standards have continued to evolve over the last hundred years. Finding the balance is a key task.

The orchestral parts are bound by hand using archivist tape that enables each part to lay flat and to turn silently on the stand - the two most important practical attributes, especially in recording sessions.

The A3 scores are bound with a soft plastic comb, again providing a lay-flat silence.

Owen Orchestration