sir Malcolm Arnold

[relm1]

It is interesting to me that while Arnold was alive, I generally thought of him as being a lightweight, pop culture composer too interested in flamboyance and flash rather than depth.  Now I think the opposite, he is a dark and troubled composer who sometimes had moments of jollity.  It isn't so much that I am better acquainted with his works now than I was in my youth as I heard all his symphonies except no. 9 by the late 1980's and when I heard the No. 9, I found it underwhelming wishing for a more climactic or conclusive rather than ambiguous finale.  Now, I think I understand his music much better and hear the subtle rage, darkness, and bitterness but also the complexity and profundity I missed earlier.  Don't get me wrong, I always enjoyed his music but for vastly different reasons now.

[Roasted Swan]

That live performance of the 7th (available on youtube) is jaw dropping. I didn't make it an outright recommendation because I think the 7th is Arnold's bleakest, angriest, most pessimistic work. It certainly sounds like that under him. So, not an entry point into his art, both as a composer and conductor, and of course not as technically excellent as the Lyrita, EMI, Reference and Everest discs he recorded. When I heard it it prompted me to listen to the other 3 recordings of the works I have. I needed to be hear them through the prism of the composer's own performance.

Thankyou (belatedly!) for this post Andre - I will listen to this recording today.  As an aside - goodness me isn't the BBC a phenomenal resource for/supporter of music.  I put "Malcolm Arnold Symphony No.7" into YouTube and as well as this Arnold conducts Arnold (with the BBC SO) there's Groves with the BBC PO and Downes also with the BBC PO.  I've been listening to some broadcast Bax via YouTube recently as well and its just the same.

When we come out of the other side of this current crisis we must remember the Conservative/Boris Johnson's intention to destroy the BBC as we know it and not forget that in a wave of post-pandemic gratitude.

[vandermolen]

Thankyou (belatedly!) for this post Andre - I will listen to this recording today.  As an aside - goodness me isn't the BBC a phenomenal resource for/supporter of music.  I put "Malcolm Arnold Symphony No.7" into YouTube and as well as this Arnold conducts Arnold (with the BBC SO) there's Groves with the BBC PO and Downes also with the BBC PO.  I've been listening to some broadcast Bax via YouTube recently as well and its just the same.

When we come out of the other side of this current crisis we must remember the Conservative/Boris Johnson's intention to destroy the BBC as we know it and not forget that in a wave of post-pandemic gratitude.

Such a good point!

[vers la flamme]

Damn, this is dark! (The 7th). That second movement is agonizing. Very well done I think. Great use of percussion and brass. Each of Arnold's symphonies that I've heard thus far are very unique from one another. He may have reinvented his whole symphonic idiom every time.

[André]

Arnold composed the 7th as a portrait of his children in three movements. Either the family was dysfunctional, or its paterfamilias had a weird sense of humor.

[Symphonic Addict]

Arnold composed the 7th as a portrait of his children in three movements. Either the family was dysfunctional, or its paterfamilias had a weird sense of humor.

Why not both? 

[André]

Why not both? 

I know nothing about the Arnold tribe, but I agree we can't exclude that possibility.

[vandermolen]

I know nothing about the Arnold tribe, but I agree we can't exclude that possibility.

I think that one of Arnold's children was severely autistic. My brother was at university with another one of Arnold's sons, Bob Arnold, who always turned up and sat very seriously in the audience whenever his father's music was performed.

[Albion]

Yes, his youngest son Edward is autistic and the 7th is a fantastic work, best heard in the Vernon Handley recording (Conifer, now Sony) rather than the too-hurried Rumon Gamba (Chandos), odd because Gamba's 2001 BBC broadcasts of 1-6 are perfectly judged!

Arnold's symphonic cycle as a whole ranks IMHO among the finest large-scale British contributions of the 20th century alongside RVW, Arnold Bax, Havergal Brian, Alun Hoddinott, Daniel Jones and Robert Simpson...

[Christo]

Yes, his youngest son Edward is autistic and the 7th is a fantastic work, best heard in the Vernon Handley recording (Conifer, now Sony) rather than the too-hurried Rumon Gamba (Chandos), odd because Gamba's 2001 BBC broadcasts of 1-6 are perfectly judged!

Arnold's symphonic cycle as a whole ranks IMHO among the finest large-scale British contributions of the 20th century alongside RVW, Arnold Bax, Havergal Brian, Alun Hoddinott, Daniel Jones and Robert Simpson...

Totally agreed on all points, the Conifer/Handley it is. Another disappointing performance BTW - however much I admire him otherwise - is the one by Martin Yates with the Royal Scots on Dutton. A better choice makes Andrew Penny with the Irish NSO for Naxos, though Handley is a clear No. 1 in the Seventh.

[Albion]

I passed on the Dutton release, though the repertoire chosen for the disc couldn't be faulted: it just seemed rather redundant given the competition! Handley secures (to me) the best cycle of the whole 9, and it is odd indeed that Richard Hickox relinquished 7-9 to Gamba feeling that they didn't represent Arnold at his best (though his 1-6 are splendid)! Gamba's set is worthwhile if only for the lovely Oboe Concerto,Op.39 which is otherwise unavailable.

Andrew Penny is excellent as well (on Naxos), but anybody really interested in Arnold is urged to seek out the (sadly now deleted) boxes of symphonies (11, including those for strings and brass) and concertos (17 out of 20, minus those for oboe, trumpet and organ which can be found elsewhere) released by Decca in 2005.

[vandermolen]

+1 for Handley's cycle. His No.6 is special too but Hickox's was also good. Arnold's very slow recording of No.1 is my favourite recording of that fine work.

Coincidentally my brother just posted this extract:


The programming of a Malcolm Arnold concert on R3 got me looking up his Guardian obituary online, which was written by a trombonist. It includes an incident that he thought was symbolic of why Arnold was never made Master of the Queen's Music:

"... those who decide such matters must have realised that, with his leftish tendencies and unpredictable sense of humour, Arnold could not be relied on to maintain the necessary level of imperial bombast without doing something silly. In a concert in Manchester in the late 1960s, I boldly led the trombone section of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic) into the chords at the end of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet four bars too late, so that as Arnold finished conducting the piece, we carried on. He thought this was great fun, raised his baton again and continued to conduct with exaggerated gestures until we were done, finishing with as tragic an expression as he could manage through his stifled laughter "

[relm1]

Agreed that the Vernon Handley cycle is excellent but Arnold's own is the superior interpretation and his versions are far different than the others.  He tends to be hyper dramatic so his No. 3 is the darkest one I've heard, his No. 4 is the most epic I've heard, his No. 7 is the slowest I've heard, etc.  I don't think there is a recording of No. 8 and 9 from him though.

[André]

Agreed that the Vernon Handley cycle is excellent but Arnold's own is the superior interpretation and his versions are far different than the others.  He tends to be hyper dramatic so his No. 3 is the darkest one I've heard, his No. 4 is the most epic I've heard, his No. 7 is the slowest I've heard, etc.  I don't think there is a recording of No. 8 and 9 from him though.

For me Arnold's own interpretations are not only arresting, but truly revelatory. His account of the 7th brings the despair quotient to bleeding levels. And his 4th towers above all others IMO. Same with his disc of overtures (on the Reference label).

[Alek Hidell]

I've heard the Penny and Handley symphony cycles, but now you guys have given me a hankerin' to hear Arnold's own. But a cursory look suggests that the performances are not easy to find - several seem not to be available on CD at all. Maybe someone already said this, but did he conduct (i.e., record) all nine? Are they available in any kind of collection?

[vandermolen]

I've heard the Penny and Handley symphony cycles, but now you guys have given me a hankerin' to hear Arnold's own. But a cursory look suggests that the performances are not easy to find - several seem not to be available on CD at all. Maybe someone already said this, but did he conduct (i.e., record) all nine? Are they available in any kind of collection?

This was a great album. The CD is absurdly priced on Amazon.com but you can get it as an MP3 download.
However, the CD with the blue cover is available much more cheaply and includes Arnold's unique performance of Symphony No.1. Tam O' Shanter and the double Piano Concerto are great fun as well, although the PC has its serious moments.

[Christo]

Agreed that the Vernon Handley cycle is excellent but Arnold's own is the superior interpretation and his versions are far different than the others.  He tends to be hyper dramatic so his No. 3 is the darkest one I've heard, his No. 4 is the most epic I've heard, his No. 7 is the slowest I've heard, etc.  I don't think there is a recording of No. 8 and 9 from him though.

Fully agreed (again). Am happy to have them all, the Seventh - to answer Alek Hidell - only as a broadcast recording uploaded from the 'Art-Music Forum' as will have done most of us here. Still, my favourite remains the Fifth under Arnold himself (available in a couple of guises with EMI) - the one it all began with back in the 1970s (for me). 

[Papy Oli]

Andrew Penny is excellent as well (on Naxos), but anybody really interested in Arnold is urged to seek out the (sadly now deleted) boxes of symphonies (11, including those for strings and brass) and concertos (17 out of 20, minus those for oboe, trumpet and organ which can be found elsewhere) released by Decca in 2005.

Just to check regarding Handley, the cycles with the Royal Phil Orch on the Sony Conifer recordings boxset and the Decca edition are one and the same, correct ? thank you.

[Albion]

Just to check regarding Handley, the cycles with the Royal Phil Orch on the Sony Conifer recordings boxset and the Decca edition are one and the same, correct ? thank you.

Yes, they are the same recordings, although the concertos for guitar, harmonica and recorder (which were licensed to Decca) are not included. Even so a splendid and highly recommended bargain.

[Papy Oli]

thank you Albion.