Symphony in F

Dutton presents the world premiere recording of Bax's ''symphony number zero.'' The piano score of Arnold Bax's Symphony in F of 1907 was completed by its composer but never orchestrated, and has long been one of the great might-have-beens of the British symphonic repertoire, along with Elgar's Third Symphony and E.J. Moeran's second. Unlike Elgar and Moeran, Bax actually completed his symphony, and now Martin Yates has set it into full score, managing to catch the elusive, idiomatic sound of Bax's orchestra in a convincing way we never expected to hear. The glorious second movement in particular, on a similar scale to his many later tone poems, is revealed as a striking and poetic creation in which Bax finds his voice.