Born into a wealthy London family, Arnold Bax was able to follow his passions without constraint as a young man. This saw him travel across Europe in the years preceding the Great War absorbing music, ballet and culture from a world that was about to be ripped apart by war. His private income afforded him the luxury of not needing to work for money. This set him apart from most of his peers and may have resulted in a sense of not quite 'fitting in'. Nonetheless he was a prolific composer able to continue honing his craft through the First World War as a result of a heart condition that precluded him from National Service. 

By the time Bax came to write his Clarinet Sonata in 1934, he was well-established as one of the foremost British establishment composers, noted for his Symphonic works. The early 1930s produced a rich seam of chamber-sized works and the influence of Frederick Thurston, the leading clarinettist of the day, cannot be underestimated. Bax had himself studied the clarinet whilst at the Royal Academy of Music, and early sketches for a clarinet sonata were found after his death. This early interest was re-ignited by Thurston's playing resulting in the Sonata being premiered by Thurston and Bax's lover Harriet Cohen in 1935. It quickly became one of his most popular small-scale works and marked a high-point in a career that was on the wane. After being made Master of the King's Music, Bax wrote little of consequence owing to the change in the direction of musical innovation and public taste. 

It is without doubt a triumph! I hope you will enjoy exploring Bax's Clarinet Sonata with me.