Arnold Bax

Sir Arnold Bax was one of the leading British symphonists to flourish between the two world wars * Studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London * Discovery of writings of Yeats prompts fascination with Celtic culture * Music has strong moods contrasting lyricism and tragedy * Series of tone poems in 1910s including In the Faerie Hills (1909), The Garden of Fand (1913-16), November Woods (1917) and his Tristanesque seascape Tintagel (1917-19) * Turned to abstract forms in 1920s including chamber music, the launch of his series of seven symphonies and the choral work Mater Ora Filium (1921) * Concertos in the 1930s for cello and violin * Appointed Master of the King's Music in 1942 * Two cycles of his symphonies are recorded on Chandos conducted by Bryden Thomson and Vernon Handley