The 9th. A lot of people say it’s a poor work and shouldn’t have been written, that it shows a man whose talent has completely disintegrated. At least two distinguished speakers this weekend have specifically said that the festival should have stopped at the 8th.
And yet...
I have never been left so emotionally devastated by a piece of music. At the end, I couldn’t even clap. I was just... numb. I had to go and walk round outside during the interval because people were trying to talk to me and... I couldn’t talk.
I expect music to affect me emotionally. If a concert doesn’t make me cry, I think something’s wrong. But I’ve never felt like this before. In isolation, I don’t know if it would have had the same impact. But as the culmination of the intense weekend, following the journey through Arnold’s life in his symphonies, to be hit with this... this... was just indescribable. I don’t think any other experience could match this.
And yes you can see its flaws and yes you can see that it lacks the skill and flair of his earlier work. But I don’t believe this was written by a broken man who was no longer mentally capable of composing. I think this was written by a man who knew exactly what he wanted to say and exactly how he wanted to say it.
And yet...
I have never been left so emotionally devastated by a piece of music. At the end, I couldn’t even clap. I was just... numb. I had to go and walk round outside during the interval because people were trying to talk to me and... I couldn’t talk.
I expect music to affect me emotionally. If a concert doesn’t make me cry, I think something’s wrong. But I’ve never felt like this before. In isolation, I don’t know if it would have had the same impact. But as the culmination of the intense weekend, following the journey through Arnold’s life in his symphonies, to be hit with this... this... was just indescribable. I don’t think any other experience could match this.
And yes you can see its flaws and yes you can see that it lacks the skill and flair of his earlier work. But I don’t believe this was written by a broken man who was no longer mentally capable of composing. I think this was written by a man who knew exactly what he wanted to say and exactly how he wanted to say it.
What also strikes me in your comments on the Ninth here (in addition to the power of your response) is how similar the critical comments of others are to those that first greeted RVW's own Ninth Symphony, which is now only just making its way into the reperoire after decades of, at best, patronizing critical attitudes. Let's hope Arnold's Ninth takes less time to find its true place.
Best Wishes.
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