Malcolm Arnold

[Conchis]

John Lord's Concerto for Rock Group and Orchestra is considered to be an inept piece of music. I enjoy it in a casual way but don't find it at all memorable. Why did Arnold agree to conduct it? He can't have rated it highly (one likes to think) and it wasn't going to do anything for his reputation.

Thanks for the correction: it was indeed the 7th Symphony that referenced his children.

[teamsaint]

One work that has been interesting me for a while is the first Horn Concerto, ( op11 ) with its wide range of moods. Only recorded once, as far as I know, it deserves more attention than it gets, I think.
The brooding central slow movement is the the one that really sets the work apart, IMO.

[pastoralguy]

Hiya cloughie,

Arnold maybe needs a new champion or two!

I think that hits the nail on the head, Stan.

Tippett had Sir Colin Davis. Elgar had Boult and Benjamin Britten was a fine conductor of his own music. Sir Simon does a lot for modern British composers such as Birtwistle, Ades and others.

George Lloyd could do with a strong advocate as well so his genius can be appreciated by all.

[pastoralguy]

John Lord's Concerto for Rock Group and Orchestra is considered to be an inept piece of music. I enjoy it in a casual way but don't find it at all memorable. Why did Arnold agree to conduct it? He can't have rated it highly (one likes to think) and it wasn't going to do anything for his reputation.

From what I've heard of Arnold, he seems to have been a nice bloke. Even if he didn't like or appreciate the actual music, he probably saw merit in Lord's intention.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2006/10/malcolm-arnold-and-rock-idols.html

[Bryn]

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2006/10...ock-idols.html

Must get the DVD down from the shelf and give it a spin.

[Stanfordian]

From what I've heard of Arnold, he seems to have been a nice bloke. Even if he didn't like or appreciate the actual music, he probably saw merit in Lord's intention.

Hiya pastoralguy,

In the 1980s I was privilaged to see Sir Malcolm conduct 2 concerts of his own works at BBC Studio 7 Manchester. Lodged firmly in the memory.

[pastoralguy]

Hiya pastoralguy,

In the 1980s I was privilaged to see Sir Malcolm conduct 2 concerts of his own works at BBC Studio 7 Manchester. Lodged firmly in the memory.

That sounds like quite an occasion, Stan.


I've just looked him up on Wikipedia and one of the first sentences I saw was 'He had a reputation for being unpleasant!' I do wonder if this description of him and his inability to find a strong advocate for his music was due to mental illness. He seems to have had a very sad life despite having had a good start and possessing great talent

[johnb]

Curious that this topic has arisen now as I recently played the Naxos disc of Symphonies 7&8 and my curiosity has been piqued to explore the other symphonies, etc. I've even been toying with the idea of getting the Chandos box.

[Arnold Bax]

Actually, I did see Malcolm Arnold a few times, at the Proms when Nicholas Daniel did his second Clarinet Concerto at the Last Night, and his daughter brought him down to receive the applause: he was not very well, and he tended to scowl at the audience, which was fair enough. And then he managed to turn up for a concert at the CBSO centre in Birmingham, breaking his leg on the way. I did get to see him in the interval, and he talked vaguely about growing up in Northampton, but I could see that he was at death's door: I even tried to get his autograph, but his little helper said that he was actually nearly blind, and I would have to do with a postcard.

Arnold was, in my opinion, a very great composer, but he was a tortured soul, and as the Naxos interview after Andrew Penny's searing account of the Ninth Symphony, the last few years had been 'hell on earth'.

[Barbirollians]

I have a disc of his convertos which is pleasant enough but his First Symphony I could not stick at all in the BBCMM recording of a few years back .

[Richard Tarleton]

I have a disc of his convertos which is pleasant enough but his First Symphony I could not stick at all in the BBCMM recording of a few years back .

I have two recordings of the guitar concerto, which was written in 1958-9 for Julian Bream and first performed with the Melos at Aldeburgh in 1959 - the 1961 recording with the Melos cond. Arnold, and the chamber verion (for flute, clarinet, horn and string quintet instead of full strings) with Rattle and members of the CBSO (on one of Bream's valedictory EMI recordings in 1993). Very charming it is too, with nods in various directions - a bluesy opening, English lute music, Django Reinhardt, a lyrical middle movement with a hint of We'll Gather Lilacs....I saw Bream perform it with Arnold and the ECO in the QEH in 1972, and it was evident that a good time was being had by all. .

[Maclintick]

Malcolm Arnold is a composer who doesn't figure largely on my listening schedule very often but when he does I find myself thinking why I don't listen to more of his music.

Just listening to Tod Handley's excellent recording of 7th Symphony with RPO on Conifer now -- harrowing stuff, though I'm having some difficulty following the actual musical structure, which is alternately disjointed, full of abrupt disjunctions, then seems to meander purposelessly..that may well be the intention, of course, to disorientate the listener....strange for a piece dedicated to the composer's offspring.
Just found this on the Faber website, which gives an excellent exegesis of the symphony. I'll have to persevere with MA's oeuvre, I feel.

http://www.fabermusic.com/news/malcolm-arnold-symphony-no-7-94

[BBMmk2]

What do people think of Richard Hickox's cycle of Arnold's symphonies?

[Stanfordian]

Just listening to Tod Handley's excellent recording of 7th Symphony with RPO on Conifer now -- harrowing stuff, though I'm having some difficulty following the actual musical structure, which is alternately disjointed, full of abrupt disjunctions, then seems to meander purposelessly..that may well be the intention, of course, to disorientate the listener....strange for a piece dedicated to the composer's offspring.
Just found this on the Faber website, which gives an excellent exegesis of the symphony. I'll have to persevere with MA's oeuvre, I feel.
http://www.fabermusic.com/news/malco...mphony-no-7-94

Hiya Maclintick,

For my listening pleasure I've given over dissecting works and never follow scores anymore. I try to just listen to the music.

Recently I have been revisiting and enjoying Arnold's two string quartets; certainly not lightweight Arnold being of the more thorny variety. The Maggini accounts on Naxos are pretty good with the McCapra Quartet on Chandos better.