Bax: Sonata for Flute & Harp / Quintet for harp and strings / etc

"Some of the best Bax is here. In these atmospheric pieces he was able to throw off the fetters of inherited symphonic forms and allow his Celtic fantasy to pursue its own improvisatory course. The melodic writing is free and fertile. Bax's harp writing is especially poetic. Best of all is the short, moody Elegiac Trio. The Fantasy Sonata, for harp and viola, is remarkable for the way it holds the attention for well over 20 minutes; not easy with two such reticent instruments. The six musicians of Mobius play this music with feeling, imagination and energy, proof that harp music doesn't have to be all elfin and willowy."
- BBC Music Magazine (Stephen Johnson), October 2000

"This beautifully executed collection of Arnold Bax's chamber music with harp provides a very timely appendix to Naxos's cycle of his symphonies - one of the most rewarding of their current projects. Through superficially none of these might seem to be a particularly profound work, the London-based group Mobius show that almost all of them contain music of great emotional intensity, especially the Elegiac Trio and the Quintet. The 1927 Fantasy Sonata for viola and harp, meanwhile, receives a performance that pushes at the expressive boundaries of such a modest medium. The ghost of Debussy hovers over that and the Sonata for flute and harp, but these bright, assertive readings reveal that there is a distinctive creative personality at work too."
- The Guardian (Andrew Clements), August 25, 2000

The young Arnold Bax was seen as the natural successor to Edward Elgar, a daunting responsibility that he did not welcome. His immediate success came with a series of atmospheric and colourful symphonic poems, though it was his seven symphonies that created an international reputation. He also wrote a substantial catalogue of chamber music for many differing groups of instruments. The lyrical qualities of the harp particularly appealed to him, his early chamber works for the instrument reflecting the influence of Ravel and Debussy.

"Some of the best Bax is here. In these atmospheric pieces he was able to throw off the fetters of inherited symphonic forms and allow his Celtic fantasy to pursue its own improvisatory course. The melodic writing is free and fertile. Bax's harp writing is especially poetic. Best of all is the short, moody Elegiac Trio. The Fantasy Sonata, for harp and viola, is remarkable for the way it holds the attention for well over 20 minutes; not easy with two such reticent instruments. The six musicians of Mobius play this music with feeling, imagination and energy, proof that harp music doesn't have to be all elfin and willowy."
- BBC Music Magazine (Stephen Johnson), October 2000

"The performances by the British group Mobius are superb, as is the sound. A disc to savor for lovers of impressionistic-romantic chamber music."
-Robert Moon Audiophile Audition February 2001