Malcolm Arnold Symphonies: Penny vs. Handley

[richardfinegold]

I'm in the process of trying to reclaim some real estate and burning part of my CD collection to a hard drive. My intention is to burn perhaps two thirds of my CDs and keep the rest in their cases. The ones that I burn are music that I don't want to part with but acknowledge that I haven't played in years. The CDs that will remain will be high resolution or favorites that are more likely to be played.
Inevitably, I am facing some choices here. Since I am starting alphabetically, (by Composer) the first hard choice is the Arnold Symphonies. I don't have a complete collection, but about half of a set each of both Handley and Penny. One would think that the Penny should be relegated to second string, but my last recollection was that these two sets actually were pretty close in terms of interpretation and orchestral execution. I am going to listen to a few of these to refresh my memory, as soon as the Serkin recording of the Emperor Concerto stops spinning here, but I know that there are quite a few Arnold aficionados inhabiting these boards, so what do people think?

[EdgeleyRob]

I'm not too familiar with the Handley discs.
I have the complete Penny and Hickox in 1 to 6.
The Penny readings are very fine IMVH(and by no means expert)O and are the versions I favour.

[teamsaint]

RF, if you have about half a set of each, what is the problem? You certainly have to have them all in CD format! They are pure gold.

[Roehre]

RF, if you have about half a set of each, what is the problem? You certainly have to have them all in CD format! They are pure gold.

Pure gold they are certainly. The differences between the two sets are IMO marginal, and preferences (as usual) are personal.
I am with ER: I prefer the Penny/Naxos recordings, but only slightly. And of no.9 to have both recordings is IMO a must (and as may be well known, I generally find that one, or maximum two recordings of a work in my collection suffice, but this is -as said- a must).

[Pabmusic]

Can I add my support to all the posters. I have both Handley and Penny, and they're very good. If you have to keep only one version, then I'd at least sample the rivals for sound. But as for performances, they're both excellent. Can you not at least store the ones you're not keeping on your computer, or a separate hard disk?

[richardfinegold]

Can I add my support to all the posters. I have both Handley and Penny, and they're very good. If you have to keep only one version, then I'd at least sample the rivals for sound. But as for performances, they're both excellent. Can you not at least store the ones you're not keeping on your computer, or a separate hard disk?

That is exactly what I am doing. My intent is to store about 2/3 of my discs on a hard drive and play them from there, and leave 1/3 or so in their jewell boxes (I'll call these the "surviviors")
The music saved on a hard drive can of course be played back (I'm listening to the Penny recording of the second from the hard drive as I type this). In my probably outdated why of thinking, the discs "saved" in their jewell boxes are the prefered ones, because I am wed to the concept musical playback from Physical Media (i.e., an lp, cassette, CD, Blu-Ray, etc), and because I am not to fond of fiddling with itunes or some other playback device to access my music (but I am getting used to this).
I have simply run out of space for new incoming discs, and thus the attempt to physically shrink my collection using computer audio.
This has been a really fun process, because I am rediscovering a lot of music that I haven't played in years. I particularly enjoyed the William Alwyn Harp Concerto (on Naxos, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones), and now I am reacquainting myself with Arnold after many years of absence. There is no time table for this project, which is fortunate, because at the rate that I am going, I probably won't make it past the "Bs" until 2018 or so.
Anyway, back to Arnold. It transpires that I do not own either the 7th or 8th Symphonies. Handley's recording is available on Amazon for about $2, but the Penny is available on Spotify, so I will give that a listen first.
I really don't know much about Arnold, but the First Symphony sounds very much influenced by Mahler (whose music was not widely available in performance or recording in Arnold's youth). Did he acknowledge GM as a significant influence, or is this just coincidental?

[Pabmusic]

That is exactly what I am doing. My intent is to store about 2/3 of my discs on a hard drive and play them from there, and leave 1/3 or so in their jewell boxes (I'll call these the "surviviors")...

Ha! Shows you I need to read more carefully, rather than skim.

[richardfinegold]

Ha! Shows you I need to read more carefully, rather than skim.

No sweat, Pab. I was just reading the liner notes for the Penny recording of 1&2, which mentions that as the 2nd Trumpet in Boult's BBC SO, Arnold participated in performances of the Wunderhorn Symphonies.
Liner notes! They won't make the conversion to a hard drive unless I specifically scan them somewhere else....need to take that into consideration.

[teamsaint]

No sweat, Pab. I was just reading the liner notes for the Penny recording of 1&2, which mentions that as the 2nd Trumpet in Boult's BBC SO, Arnold participated in performances of the Wunderhorn Symphonies.
Liner notes! They won't make the conversion to a hard drive unless I specifically scan them somewhere else....need to take that into consideration.

Its a good point about notes. of course they vary, but there are some gems, or at least things of great use. I was listening to Stravinsky's Symphony of psalms/Sym in 3 movements/Sym in C yeterday(Tilson Thomas) and the notes were absolutey brilliant for a novice like me.
Anyway, back to MA, get 7 and 8 NOW is my best advice.!!

[MickyD]

This is a very useful thread for me...I have long enjoyed Penny's Naxos version of the Arnold dances, so was wondering about the symphonies for eventual purchase. Keep the posts coming, folks!

[Stanfordian]

I'm in the process of trying to reclaim some real estate and burning part of my CD collection to a hard drive. My intention is to burn perhaps two thirds of my CDs and keep the rest in their cases. The ones that I burn are music that I don't want to part with but acknowledge that I haven't played in years. The CDs that will remain will be high resolution or favorites that are more likely to be played.
Inevitably, I am facing some choices here. Since I am starting alphabetically, (by Composer) the first hard choice is the Arnold Symphonies. I don't have a complete collection, but about half of a set each of both Handley and Penny. One would think that the Penny should be relegated to second string, but my last recollection was that these two sets actually were pretty close in terms of interpretation and orchestral execution. I am going to listen to a few of these to refresh my memory, as soon as the Serkin recording of the Emperor Concerto stops spinning here, but I know that there are quite a few Arnold aficionados inhabiting these boards, so what do people think?

Hiya richardfinegold,

I wouldn’t bother too much about the merits of Penny and Handley and also Hickox in the Arnold Symphonies they all serve the music well.

I recall with fondness a concert commemorating Malcolm Arnold’s 65th birthday that I attended in October 1986 at the Studio 7 at the now demolished New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester. The BBC Philharmonic was performing of the ‘Fantasy on a theme of John Field’ for piano and orchestra with Martin Roscoe as soloist, ‘Philharmonic Concerto’ and the ‘Symphony No. 7’ and all conducted by Malcolm Arnold himself.

[hafod]

I wouldn’t bother too much about the merits of Penny and Handley and also Hickox in the Arnold Symphonies they all serve the music well.

.................and all conducted by Malcolm Arnold himself.

I agree and so do a variety of reviewers e.g. much reading here -

http://www.musicweb-international.com/arnold/review-sys.htm

and as Stanfordian strongly implies do not forget the composers own recordings.

[Dave2002]

Richardfg

I have Penny - seems OK to me. Arguably that's not worth ripping to hard drive, as (my copy at least) the symphonies are in a fairly compact box.

My strategy, which I've by no means followed rigorously is to try to do the single jewel case CDs first, as they take up most space.

Problems: Depending on how you do the rips, you may sometimes find problems - sometimes serious.

1. For a while iTunes had some bugs, and the audio ripping of some CDs was very poor (atrocious!). I still seem to have some of those in my library - if I encounter them accidentally they produce
an ear splitting noise. The solution is to delete them and rip again - since iTunes seems OK at present.

2. Gaps between tracks can be a problem. My advice FWIW at present is to avoid any music such as variations, particularly if one variation leads directly into the next. I know it may be possible to get round this, but CD players don't normally have this problem, and you can save time by not even confronting this problem.

3. As per 2, there can also be problems with operas, for pretty much the same reason.

4. Another problem is if tracks become out of order. This can happen if the metadata associated with each track is not organised "correctly". I have had this problem with some opera downloads and CDs.
It might take longer than the time to listen to the Ring to sort this out for some material!

There have been other threads on CD ripping etc. on the Tecchies Forum.

I presume you are ripping to a lossless format. Mostly things will go OK, and you'll get benefits, but I thought I'd also mention some possible pitfalls. Good luck.

[Ferretfancy]

I'm pleased that many here enjoy Malcolm Arnold's symphonies, I have both the Penny and the Handley versions, but I have to confess that I don't listen to them very often. Every now and again I give them a try, but there's something about Arnold's style that simply doesn't work for me. I recognise his enormous talent, and I really have no idea why I find the music off putting, but there it is. It isn't for want of trying, and I do enjoy some of his other works,the flute concertos and the Sinfonietta for example. I think it's his noisy climaxes, but plenty of other composers have those, does anybody share my lack of enthusiasm ?

[Roehre]

I'm pleased that many here enjoy Malcolm Arnold's symphonies, I have both the Penny and the Handley versions, but I have to confess that I don't listen to them very often. Every now and again I give them a try, but there's something about Arnold's style that simply doesn't work for me. I recognise his enormous talent, and I really have no idea why I find the music off putting, but there it is. It isn't for want of trying, and I do enjoy some of his other works,the flute concertos and the Sinfonietta for example. I think it's his noisy climaxes, but plenty of other composers have those, does anybody share my lack of enthusiasm ?

I share that feeling, and IMO it's caused by what makes the Arnold symphonies relatively difficult to perform in a balanced way: in the wrong hands the climaxes seem to be OTT and a bit like bolts of lightning at a blue sky - even a recording of the 3rd by Arnold himself with a beautiful slow mvt doesn't escape this in its finale. In that sense a feeling for its intrinsic rhythm and the building up of the climaxes is essential for the conductor -similar to the Bruckner symphonies in that respect.
Both Penny and Handley succed brilliantly in avoiding this pitfall.

The Sinfoniettas are literally lighter, as structure as well as in terms of the orchestration, shorter and therefore less susceptible for this fingerprint of Arnold's symphonic writing.