The works gathered on this disc come from Bax"s early period, and some influence from Debussy (and perhaps Strauss) can be heard. But they nonetheless triumph as works individual to Bax"s own creative temperament. In fact, Spring Fire is Bax"s first fully characterized tone poem, written in a free-flowing manner that informs all his later works; it exhibits a kind of boistrous "paganism," as some early critics termed it. Chandos has single-handedly rescued Bax from obscurity and this is one of their best releases in the Bax series. A good place to start. --Paul Cook