Richard Arnell (1917-2009)

Started by vandermolen, July 29, 2007, 02:24:09 PM

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Dundonnell

#20
August 01, 2007, 06:27:07 AM
I have just joined this forum having, quite accidentally, discovered its existence whilst doing a Google search for references to Arnell!
I had no idea that Dutton had just released Symphonies Nos.4 and 5. Needless to say I have immediately ordered the CD!
I must confess to being bowled over by the energy and elan of the Piano Concerto and emailed the soloist, David Owen Norris, to congratulate him on rescuing such a refreshing work.

I had been waiting with keen anticipation for Toccata to release the (Arizona) Musica Viva Orchestra's recordings of the Arnell symphonies. Does anyone know what happened to this plan? Anyway, Dutton seem to have stolen a march on any other companies by using a self-confessed devotee in Martin Yates and the RSNO to record these long-overdue works and I, for one, am extremely grateful to that most enterprising company! (Who else would have recently issued the Bainton 2nd and Boughton 1st? Well, I suppose, at one time Chandos might have considered it.)

Delighted to have found this forum! I am afraid that I may use it to punt a number of my favourite under-rated composers! I have people like Peter Racine Fricker, William Wordsworth, Arnold Cooke, Daniel Jones, Alun Hoddinott in mind amongst English composers and the-sadly under-recorded-Hilding Rosenberg amongst others. That however will be for future posts!

Look forward to contributing!

Dundonnell

#21
August 01, 2007, 06:29:34 AM
Sorry! My sincerest apologies to the Welsh! On re-reading my own post I should have attributed the correct nationality to Daniel Jones and Alun Hoddinott!

vandermolen

#22
August 02, 2007, 05:57:11 AM
Quote from: Dundonnell on August 01, 2007, 06:27:07 AM
I have just joined this forum having, quite accidentally, discovered its existence whilst doing a Google search for references to Arnell!
I had no idea that Dutton had just released Symphonies Nos.4 and 5. Needless to say I have immediately ordered the CD!
I must confess to being bowled over by the energy and elan of the Piano Concerto and emailed the soloist, David Owen Norris, to congratulate him on rescuing such a refreshing work.

I had been waiting with keen anticipation for Toccata to release the (Arizona) Musica Viva Orchestra's recordings of the Arnell symphonies. Does anyone know what happened to this plan? Anyway, Dutton seem to have stolen a march on any other companies by using a self-confessed devotee in Martin Yates and the RSNO to record these long-overdue works and I, for one, am extremely grateful to that most enterprising company! (Who else would have recently issued the Bainton 2nd and Boughton 1st? Well, I suppose, at one time Chandos might have considered it.)

Delighted to have found this forum! I am afraid that I may use it to punt a number of my favourite under-rated composers! I have people like Peter Racine Fricker, William Wordsworth, Arnold Cooke, Daniel Jones, Alun Hoddinott in mind amongst English composers and the-sadly under-recorded-Hilding Rosenberg amongst others. That however will be for future posts!

Look forward to contributing!

Welcome to the forum, where you will find a motley collection of congenial and self-opinionated individuals to discuss your musical interests!

I like all the composers you mention. We really do need a Rosenberg symphony cycle (if they can do it for Tubin and Holmboe they should do it for Rosenberg) although I was pleased that Andrew Davis recorded the great Symphony 3 for Finlandia in Stockholm. Toccata tell me that they will issue Arnell's Third and Fourth symphonies shortly.

I'm sure that you will enjoy Arnell's fourth and fifth symphonies (I find the end of No 5 very moving) and I look forward to hearing your views in due course. Every good wish.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Thom

#23
August 05, 2007, 04:09:56 AM
Vandermolen, my Dutton disc with the 4th and 5th arrived yesterday. I listened twice and you were absolutely right, especially the 5th is a great piece of music. Powerfull, moving, what not. Thanks for pointing it out.

sound67

#24
August 05, 2007, 04:19:11 AM
QuoteI had no idea that Dutton had just released Symphonies Nos.4 and 5. Needless to say I have immediately ordered the CD!

Same here!  ;D Too bad most people are listening to their 46th rendition of Beethoven's 5th instead.
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

The new erato

#25
August 05, 2007, 05:05:55 AM
Like to jump in on behalf of Rosenberg. Probably Swedens best composer, and sadly underrecorded. Except for the Caprice complete set, who are recording his quartets for example? Very strange that BIS and cpo have neglected him.

vandermolen

#26
August 05, 2007, 10:26:26 AM
Quote from: XXXPawn on August 05, 2007, 04:09:56 AM
Vandermolen, my Dutton disc with the 4th and 5th arrived yesterday. I listened twice and you were absolutely right, especially the 5th is a great piece of music. Powerfull, moving, what not. Thanks for pointing it out.


So glad that you liked it :)

One of my colleagues bought it and reckoned that it is one of his "discs of the year" and this was on the strength of having only yet played the Fourth Symphony.

How sad that Arnell has been subjected to almost total neglect in recent decades but it is good that he is still around to see two complete cycles of his symphonies being recorded.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#27
August 05, 2007, 10:30:16 AM Last Edit: August 05, 2007, 10:32:09 AM by vandermolen
Quote from: erato on August 05, 2007, 05:05:55 AM
Like to jump in on behalf of Rosenberg. Probably Swedens best composer, and sadly underrecorded. Except for the Caprice complete set, who are recording his quartets for example? Very strange that BIS and cpo have neglected him.

Totally agree with you; a mystifying omission. Symphony 2-6 are all great works, especially the redemptive endings of 2 and 3.

Apropos of nothing, I strongly recommend Hayasaka's Piano Concerto, in memory of his brother and victims of war, on Naxos; one of my discoveries of the year. It has an epic, memorable and v moving opening movement of c 20 mins.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Al Moritz

#28
August 06, 2007, 03:29:54 AM
Yes, Larry, that Monterverdi concert was wonderful. It was your idea, and you also were the one who, 8 years ago, turned my attention to Stockhausen-Verlag in the first place. Thanks!

Dundonnell

#29
August 06, 2007, 07:22:04 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on August 05, 2007, 10:30:16 AM
Totally agree with you; a mystifying omission. Symphony 2-6 are all great works, especially the redemptive endings of 2 and 3.

Apropos of nothing, I strongly recommend Hayasaka's Piano Concerto, in memory of his brother and victims of war, on Naxos; one of my discoveries of the year. It has an epic, memorable and v moving opening movement of c 20 mins.

The postings on this thread seem to be straying rather far away from Richard Arnell! However, while it might be better to start a new thread on Hilding Rosenberg, I might just say that Robert von Bahr, the owner of BIS, does seem to have very definite tastes and has totally ignored Rosenberg's music over the years. But then Rosenberg is not alone in this neglect. It was left to that most enterprising German company CPO to record the Swedish symphonic cycles of Kurt Atterberg(BIS did record his 6th), Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Ture Rangstrom and Dag Wiren. Obviously, von Bahr has no time for Rosenberg et al. Indeed, arguably, BIS has actually done better for some of the other great 20th century Scandinavian symphonists with the complete cycles of the Dane Vagn Holmboe, the Norwegian Harald Saeverud, and the Finns Joonas Kokkonen, Aulis Sallinen(incomplete) and Kalevi Aho(ongoing).

I agree about the merits of those Rosenberg symphonies I have heard-Nos.2-6-but each of these is an old recording(No.5 is actually from the 1940s). I believe that Rosenberg may have withdrawn his 1st. I would love to hear Nos. 7 and 8. Rosenberg was a serious composer rated highly by that great authority on Nordic music, Robert Layton. He was very much the grand old man of Swedish music and his continuing neglect by record companies is most odd. I seem to remember a reference somewhere to a plan for Neeme Jarvi to record the symphonies with the Gothenburg orchestra but obviously this came to nothing. Over to you, CPO!

Christo

#30
August 06, 2007, 07:42:45 AM
Quote from: sound67 on August 05, 2007, 10:34:14 AM
It's good there are still enterprising producers around, like Michael Dutton.

Seconded. Another reason for praise is his quickness. If I'm well informed, the recording of the 4th and 5th only took place this Spring - and the CD was released in July or so. With the "big" companies one often has to wait for years.

Due to a holiday spent in Turkey, I missed this recent release. I totally totally agree with all positive comments on the Third, however, one of my greatest recent discoveries. Dutton will soon be short of copies, as all of seem to be ordering it by now.
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

PerfectWagnerite

#31
August 06, 2007, 08:49:41 AM
Is Mehta Jewish? I thought he is Indian...

bhodges

#32
August 06, 2007, 08:50:55 AM
Gentlemen, I am coming very close to excising a number of these posts that have little to do with Mr. Arnell.  If you wish to continue the exchange on other matters, please adjourn to private messages.  Thank you.  $:)

--Bruce

sound67

#33
August 06, 2007, 08:53:52 AM
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on August 06, 2007, 08:49:41 AM
Is Mehta Jewish? I thought he is Indian...

Mehta is of the Parsi faith. Still, Lebrecht connects him to the "kosher nostra".
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

uffeviking

#34
August 06, 2007, 08:55:55 AM
Quote from: sound67 on August 06, 2007, 08:40:00 AM
It seems the Mehta-Barenboim-etc. circle is not the only kosher nostra operating in classical music.  ;D

Something is going not only away from the subject of the thread, but reveals unfamiliarity with the two artists mentioned. Zubin Mehta is a Hindu - don't know how seriously his involvement - he only 'acted' at being Jewish at the wedding of Barenboim and DuPrey.

Barenboim is anything but kosher, after all the created the orchestra involving young musicians from Israel and Palestine working together splendidly.

Now what was that all about Richard Arnell? He got lost in some stampede; let's bring him back, please gentlemen!

uffeviking  $:)

Larry Rinkel

#35
August 06, 2007, 08:57:10 AM
Quote from: uffeviking on August 06, 2007, 08:55:55 AM
Something is going not only away from the subject of the thread, but reveals unfamiliarity with the two artists mentioned. Zubin Mehta is a Hindu - don't know how seriously his involvement - he only 'acted' at being Jewish at the wedding of Barenboim and DuPrey.

Barenboim is anything but kosher, after all the created the orchestra involving young musicians from Israel and Palestine working together splendidly.

Now what was that all about Richard Arnell? He got lost in some stampede; let's bring him back, please gentlemen!

uffeviking  $:)

I would think you should be more concerned not to endorse anti-Semitic remarks on this forum.

uffeviking

#36
August 06, 2007, 09:02:23 AM
Quote from: sound67 on August 06, 2007, 08:49:01 AM
A-hem. This was an allusion to Norman Lebrecht's book "The Myth of the Maestro".


Mr. Lebrecht is very picky about titles of his books being quoted correctly; it all has to do with publicity and PR!

The Maestro Myth. A Citadel Press Book. Published by Carol Publishing Group

PerfectWagnerite

#37
August 06, 2007, 09:03:00 AM
Quote from: sound67 on August 06, 2007, 08:49:01 AM
A-hem. This was an allusion to Norman Lebrecht's book "The Myth of the Maestro". It's a commonly known joke in classical music.

Too bad you didn't get it.
Geez, I don't know about that book. I am not an expert in the biography of conductors but some of the stuff Lebrecht says about some of them, particularly the nasty stuff he said about Bruno Walter (how he is a phony, a miser, and a plain jerk) is highly questionable. I find it hard to take him seriously.

bhodges

#38
August 06, 2007, 09:06:07 AM Last Edit: August 07, 2007, 07:36:43 AM by bhodges
I have temporarily locked this topic, but will be glad to unlock it for further discussion of Arnell's music.  Please remember that personal attacks are not appropriate on this forum.  Thank you...  $:)

Update: topic is now unlocked...please continue.  :)

--Bruce

Thom

#39
August 07, 2007, 09:46:06 AM
Thanks bhodges for unlocking. I think Arnell is far to important to be the victim of futile and perhaps even insulting dispute.

I had the chance to listen to the 3d symphony a few more times and I am beginning to appreciate this music more and more.
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