Malcolm Arnold

[ardcarp]

I'm really enjoying this week's CotW...catching up a couple of days in arrears. Wasn't the early string quartet (episode 1) extraordinary?
There is some discussion on the Composers sub-forum, but I thought I'd put a heads-up here.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?19843-Arnold-Sir-Malcolm-(1921-2006)/page6

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnxf/episodes/player

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm really enjoying this week's CotW...catching up a couple of days in arrears. Wasn't the early string quartet (episode 1) extraordinary?
There is some discussion on the Composers sub-forum, but I thought I'd put a heads-up here.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?19843-Arnold-Sir-Malcolm-(1921-2006)/page6

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00...pisodes/player

Today's double concerto, the last item, was a delight, and I would like to hear it again. What is interesting, and for me a revelation of the kind this programme is often so good at illuminating, is how the contradictions in the man play out in the music: those wonderful, beautifully realised passages that suddenly transition into something as corny as corny can be seeming to accurately reflect the cringeworthily embarrassing social situations referred to by Arnold's daughter and others.

[LMcD]

Today's double concerto, the last item, was a delight, and I would like to hear it again. What is interesting, and for me a revelation of the kind this programme is often so good at illuminating, is how the contradictions in the man play out in the music: those wonderful, beautifully realised passages that suddenly transition into something as corny as corny can be seeming to accurately reflect the cringeworthily embarrassing social situations referred to by Arnold's daughter and others.

That's exactly how I felt. This week's CoTW has been a total revelation.

[Edgy 2]

Today's double concerto, the last item, was a delight, and I would like to hear it again. What is interesting, and for me a revelation of the kind this programme is often so good at illuminating, is how the contradictions in the man play out in the music: those wonderful, beautifully realised passages that suddenly transition into something as corny as corny can be seeming to accurately reflect the cringeworthily embarrassing social situations referred to by Arnold's daughter and others.

I’ve felt a deep connection to Arnold’s music for a long time.
I often wonder whether you have to have suffered some kind of mental illness (I have and still do)to really understand the man’s work.
Without being capable of explaining why,I think I do understand.
It’s as if he is saying,in music,this is how it is.
MA gives me the kick up the backside I probably need at times (I still take RVW as my anti depressants though).
Bit of a mish mash post but I can’t explain it any better

[ardcarp]

Bravely said, Edgy...and I think this week's excellent episodes so far endorse the connection between man's condition and his music. [Insert 'woman' and 'her' as necessary.]

[Serial_Apologist]

I’ve felt a deep connection to Arnold’s music for a long time.
I often wonder whether you have to have suffered some kind of mental illness (I have and still do)to really understand the man’s work.
Without being capable of explaining why,I think I do understand.
It’s as if he is saying,in music,this is how it is.
MA gives me the kick up the backside I probably need at times (I still take RVW as my anti depressants though).
Bit of a mish mash post but I can’t explain it any better

Quite possibly, Edgy. With Malcolm Arnold's music I get a sense of him going all out to create something beautiful and moving, and then wanting to smash it to smithereens as if to say, that was false and shallow sentimentality; this is reality. Mahler has been referred to in this particular series - albeit not in this specific connection - but this destructive association seems to be in common more with Mahler than with for example Shostakovitch, for whom one maybe feels the irony and violent fluctuations of mood seem to have had more to do with the politics of the situation he was trapped in being the source of his depression and despair than some universalised perception.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I often wonder whether you have to have suffered some kind of mental illness (I have and still do)to really understand the man’s work.

I don't think that Music "works" like this, though, Edgy - doesn't it "limit" the "reach" of the Music, and therefore its importance? And won't there be many people who have "suffered some type of mental illness" who can't stand Arnold's Music?

What is, I think, more important is that this Music "speaks" to you, and "connects" with emotions, experiences, and ideas that you have suffered (as well as many that you have enjoyed and which have helped you through those heavy days) - that's what I think matters, and why the Arts (and, perhaps Music in particular) is so essential to people's lives. Literally: of the "essence" of being alive - there, with us, particularly when it feels as if we are abandoned with and by even ourselves. (And, of course, when we feel most attached to Life and wish to celebrate it - feelings which I deeply wish and hope for you, old chum. )

[seabright]

Stokowski was the only great 'international' maestro at the time to conduct any of Arnold's music. His 1954 BBC Maida Vale radio broadcast of "Beckus" was hailed by the composer as a "wonderful performance," words echoed by a comment under its YouTube upload ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogsx2rnYZ4g

"Stunning and rousing"!

[ardcarp]

OMG the final episode was a bit dark. I knew about Arnold's alcoholism and (probably associated) mental health problems but I didn't realise he had a violent side to the women in his life. But one must (a) have sympathy for him as well as those who had to cope with him, and (b) separate the man's behaviour from his music. He was obviously one of those highly gifted people from whom music flowed straight from his head (soul?) onto the m/s paper. And his grasp of orchestration was sans pareil. I think upthread someone made an allusion to Mahler. Yes in the sense that an apparently 'banal' motif will crop up amongst the heavy stuff.

My Christmas CD bucket list is now going to include Hickox/LSO and Arnold/CBSO.

[visualnickmos]

I don't want to break up the party, but the thread is entitled 'Malcolm Arnold'

[ardcarp]

I don't want to break up the party, but the thread is entitled 'Malcolm Arnold'

We're just keeping up he traditions of the Forum.

There is a connection. See Bella's post #7. Not that I'm saying it's her fault.......

[visualnickmos]

I think I'm going to take a break from this forum for a while. Not that anyone will notice. It has, I feel, become rather a 'you're in ' or 'you're out' gang. I'm definitely not feeling 'in'

[ardcarp]

Oh dear visualnickmos. Please don't be offended by my post #36. It was meant as a lighthearted criticism of the forum and its ways. You are quite right; we have deviated from the thread title. I do hope you'll stay and put us back on course. BTW, I thought this week's CotW exemplified this excellent programme at its best. Do let us have your views on it and on Malcolm Arnold.

[Edgy 2]

I don't think that Music "works" like this, though, Edgy - doesn't it "limit" the "reach" of the Music, and therefore its importance? And won't there be many people who have "suffered some type of mental illness" who can't stand Arnold's Music?

What is, I think, more important is that this Music "speaks" to you, and "connects" with emotions, experiences, and ideas that you have suffered (as well as many that you have enjoyed and which have helped you through those heavy days) - that's what I think matters, and why the Arts (and, perhaps Music in particular) is so essential to people's lives. Literally: of the "essence" of being alive - there, with us, particularly when it feels as if we are abandoned with and by even ourselves. (And, of course, when we feel most attached to Life and wish to celebrate it - feelings which I deeply wish and hope for you, old chum. )

Thank you ferney,a lovely post,you’re very kind

I’m not really any good at explaining myself,not even sure what I’m trying to say half the time
Whatever,his music more than speaks to me.
I listen to,for example,the Lento slow movement of the 2nd Symphony and think,yep Malcolm,you’ve hit the nail on the head,I’ve been there

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think I'm going to take a break from this forum for a while. Not that anyone will notice. It has, I feel, become rather a 'you're in ' or 'you're out' gang. I'm definitely not feeling 'in'

I hope you'll reconsider, visnick - I will certainly notice your absence, and I'm sure many other Forumistas will, too. If there is an "in" crowd (and I hope there isn't, as that would imply an "out" group) then someone with over 3,000 posts is certainly part of it.

It can be annoying when a Thread wanders "off-topic" - what I usually do in cases like this is "trim" off the OT posts and give them their own Thread, provided that there are enough posts to suggest that people would like the space to discuss it further, and leave the original Thread on-topic. I've been at concerts in Huddersfield, so haven't been able to do this today.