sir Malcolm Arnold

[Roasted Swan]

You have whetted my appetite! As a fledgling Arnoldian there is still a lot for me to discover!

They are quite different - absolute music (albeit with clearly defined "moods") but without the extra emotional weight that Arnold imbued his symphonies which I hear as more explicitly personal statements....

[foxandpeng]

After the extremely positive experience of hearing Vernon Handley's recordings of the Robert Simpson symphonies, I've been listening today to his recordings of Malcolm Arnold in the Conifer box set. So far, I have heard symphonies 1 through 3, and am really impressed.

I sometimes forget just how very enjoyable Arnold's symphonies are.

[Symphonic Addict]

After the extremely positive experience of hearing Vernon Handley's recordings of the Robert Simpson symphonies, I've been listening today to his recordings of Malcolm Arnold in the Conifer box set. So far, I have heard symphonies 1 through 3, and am really impressed.

I sometimes forget just how very enjoyable Arnold's symphonies are.

His symphonies are consistently engaging with lots of striking ideas. Yesterday when I was listening to his 5th on the Chandos disc, once again I realized how brilliant and even profound at times he could be.

[Mapman]

I listened again to the first movement of his 3rd last night. I really like his melodies. Unfortunately, I'm still unconvinced by the movement as a whole.

[Roasted Swan]

I listened again to the first movement of his 3rd last night. I really like his melodies. Unfortunately, I'm still unconvinced by the movement as a whole.

I am a big fan of Arnold in general and his symphonies in particular.  But in fact No.3 is one of the one's I respond to least.  Not helped by the very "obvious" ending.  Also, whenever I hear it there is a passage which reminds me of a particularly bad British Game Show theme from the 1970's called "Sale of the Century".  The association is tenuous but it puts me off the symphony!!

[steve ridgway]

I remember "Sale of the Century" - you could win stuff like Hoover vacuum cleaners.

[DavidUK]

1st, 7th, and 9th symphonies are the ones I am currently enjoying the most. Pretty good stuff.

[vandermolen]

1st, 7th, and 9th symphonies are the ones I am currently enjoying the most. Pretty good stuff.

I think that the odd numbered ones are best although I also think highly of No.6.

[André]

Reposting comments I made in the WAYL2 thread:

Malcolm Arnold, symphony no 7. BBC SO conducted by the composer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TaAOT0RMmU

Arnold has conducted most of his symphonies on disc or in concert (1-7 AFAIK). This performance is the broadcast premiere of the work from a 1977 concert. It is the only time where I find that Arnold's unusually slow approach does not really work. His performances of the others are wonderful, the best of the competition IMO  for nos 3 and 4.

In the 7th his way with the work is very measured, crushing but highly charged. Ultimately the music founders under its own weight. Timings tell the story: Yates and Gamba take around 32 minutes, Penney and Handley 38 and Arnold a whopping 51 minutes. I haven't heard Groves and Downes yet (2 more YT videos), but both seem to clock in at 39 minutes.

The first movement alone takes 23 minutes against 12-13 for Y an G and 16 for P and H. Granted, it's a highly personal statement, but high drama is turned into unrelieved gloomy tragedy. My favourite version is Penney, with Handley running him close. I have a feeling Groves and Downes will be interesting to hear.

Malcolm Arnold: symphony no 7.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiyIIa3KHw Downes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrdtAGKGFTw Groves

Arnold's most troubled, puzzling symphony. Each movement being a portrait of one of his children, it is understandable that the work does not seem structured conventionally. Also, in this instance Arnold seems to have laid bare some very personal, even raw sentiments. A troubling work, and possibly the composer's most intimate one. I think it has parallels with Mahler 7 and Vaughan Williams 6 in its refusal to have anything 'pleasoing' to share with the listeners.

Two youtube links, with Charles Groves and the BBC Symphony, then Edward Downes and the BBC Philharmonic. Concerts honouring the composer's 65th birthday (1986, Downes) and 70th birthday (1991, Groves). Both clock in around the same time (39 minutes) but there are big differences in conception. I came down in favour of Downes' urgent, incisive treatment vs Groves' moodier, slacker approach. Downes wins my vote and I think it's a top recommendation anlong with the recorded accounts of Penney and Handley.

[Roasted Swan]

Just ordered a copy of the new biography of Sir Malcom;



I suspect this will be an uneasy read.....  Apparently this focuses on Arnold's latter years when he relied on the care of others.  Clearly I am in no position to judge but there are two polar opposite views; that of Katherine Arnold - his daughter, and that of Anthony Day his long-time carer between whom there was literally no love lost.  This book seems to have been written from Katherine's standpoint.  As ever, I doubt things are quite as black and white as presented here so perhaps a more assiduous biographer would have taken a more objective stance.  One incontrovertible fact - Arnold wrote and dedicated his 9th Symphony - which I consider a masterpiece - to Anthony Day.  The 7th Symphony which is also a genuinely remarkable if bleak work is allegedly portraits of his children......

[Maestro267]

The 7th is definitely the most defiantly grim and unrelentingly intense work in his oeuvre. The 9th is intense as well but in a different way.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

My favourites so far are the 4th and 5th, after listening to six of them lots of times. The final three are still ahead of me...

[André]

The 7th is definitely the most defiantly grim and unrelentingly intense work in his oeuvre. The 9th is intense as well but in a different way.

Yes.

[Mirror Image]

The 7th is definitely the most defiantly grim and unrelentingly intense work in his oeuvre. The 9th is intense as well but in a different way.

Oh yes and I love both of these symphonies immensely along with the 8th. If I were to be honest about, I'd say each Arnold's symphonies have real merit and something unique about them. After Vaughan Williams, I'd certainly rank Arnold as one of the great English symphonists.

[Figaro]

Anyone with a view on Arnold's Concertos, either collectively or individually? This is a long old thread but has mainly focused on the symphonies, with very little attention on anything else.

Yet he wrote nearly twenty concertos, for a wide range of instruments (curiously no straight up piano or violin concertos, given they're the most common usually). Mark Morris is quite dismissive of them ("pleasant music making") but is very dismissive of Arnold generally - anyone with a dissenting view? The concertos are all quite short which makes me lean towards not expecting any great masterpieces among them, but does anyone have any favourites or recommendations among them?

[vandermolen]

Anyone with a view on Arnold's Concertos, either collectively or individually? This is a long old thread but has mainly focused on the symphonies, with very little attention on anything else.

Yet he wrote nearly twenty concertos, for a wide range of instruments (curiously no straight up piano or violin concertos, given they're the most common usually). Mark Morris is quite dismissive of them ("pleasant music making") but is very dismissive of Arnold generally - anyone with a dissenting view? The concertos are all quite short which makes me lean towards not expecting any great masterpieces among them, but does anyone have any favourites or recommendations among them?

The Piano Concerto (for three hands) is my favourite.

[Roasted Swan]

Anyone with a view on Arnold's Concertos, either collectively or individually? This is a long old thread but has mainly focused on the symphonies, with very little attention on anything else.

Yet he wrote nearly twenty concertos, for a wide range of instruments (curiously no straight up piano or violin concertos, given they're the most common usually). Mark Morris is quite dismissive of them ("pleasant music making") but is very dismissive of Arnold generally - anyone with a dissenting view? The concertos are all quite short which makes me lean towards not expecting any great masterpieces among them, but does anyone have any favourites or recommendations among them?

I think Arnold is a nailed-on genius even if a flawed one.  But I do not think his genius is best expressed via his concerti.  All his technical skill and understanding of instrumental technique is there but they do not have that extra layer of very personal emotion that imbues his finest work - which in essence are probably the 9 symphonies.  The concerti are his most absolute music and none the worse for that.  I like the idea that many of them are "gifts" for the players who inspired them but personally prefer /listen to more often just about anything else in his orchestral output.

[Carshot]

I find most of Arnold's concertos to be tuneful and glorious! Try this if you can find it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Malcolm-Arnold-Concertos-Clarinet-Trumpet/dp/B07D1PPM5Y/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3NOHTK62QU343&keywords=%22malcolm+arnold%22+%22bournemouth%22&qid=1661066759&sprefix=malcolm+arnold+bournmouth%2Caps%2C635&sr=8-8

[vers la flamme]

Just ordered a copy of the new biography of Sir Malcom;



I suspect this will be an uneasy read.....  Apparently this focuses on Arnold's latter years when he relied on the care of others.  Clearly I am in no position to judge but there are two polar opposite views; that of Katherine Arnold - his daughter, and that of Anthony Day his long-time carer between whom there was literally no love lost.  This book seems to have been written from Katherine's standpoint.  As ever, I doubt things are quite as black and white as presented here so perhaps a more assiduous biographer would have taken a more objective stance.  One incontrovertible fact - Arnold wrote and dedicated his 9th Symphony - which I consider a masterpiece - to Anthony Day.  The 7th Symphony which is also a genuinely remarkable if bleak work is allegedly portraits of his children......

Any other thoughts on this bio? I'm very curious to read it.

[Maestro267]

My only disappointment is that he didn't write a full-scale concerto. They all seem to be either relative miniatures or for reduced forces, often both.