The sheer dramatic impact of the turbulent opening movement shocked audiences when the Symphony No. 2 was first performed in 1929. Feeling that too much was expected of him as he followed in Elgar’s footsteps, Arnold Bax changed the direction of British music with powerful and rugged symphonies, the Second, for large orchestra, creating the most brilliant tonal colours. Yet in his early career he also composed a series of evocative tone poems, November Woods being one of his most famous.