sir Malcolm Arnold

[vandermolen]

I have it as part of the 10-disc British Symphonic Collection (which includes a disc of Arnold, to keep it on topic for the thread) and the Bostock is my definitive Butterworth 1.

The Arnold disc (recently reissued on Alto) is a very fine one.

[Irons]

It's a very good alternative to the Chandos recording of Gipps' symphony No.2 and anything by Arthur Butterworth is always a bonus. This was one of the discs that made it into the Membran reissue, but if you can get the original release you get booklet notes!

Yes, it's a fine disc.

I have it as part of the 10-disc British Symphonic Collection (which includes a disc of Arnold, to keep it on topic for the thread) and the Bostock is my definitive Butterworth 1.

Many thanks for feedback, appreciated. I have ordered the Classico CD.

[Albion]

Many thanks for feedback, appreciated. I have ordered the Classico CD.

It'll be worth it! I collected the discs originally and it was a great series as Bostock covered such diverse repertoire as Cipriani Potter and Frederic Cowen. If you can find it, try to get volume 12 "Elgar and the English Choral Tradition" recorded in Liverpool which includes the orchestral version of Dyson's The Blacksmiths, Brian's Psalm 23 and Bridge's A Prayer.

The Arnold disc (recently reissued on Alto) is a very fine one.

A valiant effort to keep the thread on track...

[Roasted Swan]

It'll be worth it! I collected the discs originally and it was a great series as Bostock covered such diverse repertoire as Cipriani Potter and Frederic Cowen. If you can find it, try to get volume 12 "Elgar and the English Choral Tradition" recorded in Liverpool which includes the orchestral version of Dyson's The Blacksmiths, Brian's Psalm 23 and Bridge's A Prayer.

A valiant effort to keep the thread on track...

Oh no off topic AGAIN!!!  To the highlighted text - I do like that disc a lot but it contains one of the most curious recording errors I know!  The first solo soprano entry in the very beautiful Howells Sine Nomine is actually sung on the wrong notes - a straight comparison with the only other recording of the work on Naxos reveals the mistake.  Quite how that got past singer, conductor and producer I do not know.....

[Albion]

Oh no off topic AGAIN!!!  To the highlighted text - I do like that disc a lot but it contains one of the most curious recording errors I know!  The first solo soprano entry in the very beautiful Howells Sine Nomine is actually sung on the wrong notes - a straight comparison with the only other recording of the work on Naxos reveals the mistake.  Quite how that got past singer, conductor and producer I do not know.....

Not as great as Dorati's "acclaimed" Concertgebouw "Sleeping Beauty" where in the Act 1 March the cellos misread the tenor clef for the bass clef. Perhaps Dorati had nipped out to the loo. Sample 2:30 in wonderment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNQWet5Ai64&list=PLClKtfs9ReDfdmonz_V8XglzlQK1F3VST&index=2

... it didn't happen in Minneapolis (perhaps Dorati had a commode)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0apAHC3NROg&list=OLAK5uy_lyLsZrY3_cAC5HOMrewh2pO-fG_FDcg2M&index=2

 

[Roasted Swan]

Not as great as Dorati's "acclaimed" Concertgebouw "Sleeping Beauty" where in the Act 1 March the cellos misread the tenor clef for the bass clef. Perhaps Dorati had nipped out to the loo. Sample 2:30 in wonderment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNQWet5Ai64&list=PLClKtfs9ReDfdmonz_V8XglzlQK1F3VST&index=2

... it didn't happen in Minneapolis (perhaps Dorati had a commode)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0apAHC3NROg&list=OLAK5uy_lyLsZrY3_cAC5HOMrewh2pO-fG_FDcg2M&index=2

 

I did know about that one - but it still comes up as a shock!

[Carshot]

I very much enjoyed this new release from Chandos.  Great sound and performances plus I think some rarities such as Arnold's earliest symphonic poem, The Larch Trees, op. 3.  Philharmonic Concerto, Op.120, is exciting and dramatic work, a concerto for orchestra.

I, too, really enjoy this new release. I bought the CD but on uploading it to my laptop then iPhone the alphabet characters all look Chinese! Mervyn Cooke's excellent booklet notes mention that the "wrong" recurring note (my phrase) during the "The Padstow Lifeboat" represents the sound of the foghorn at the nearby Trevose Head lighthouse. I had not known this and it adds to my enjoyment.

[vandermolen]

I, too, really enjoy this new release. I bought the CD but on uploading it to my laptop then iPhone the alphabet characters all look Chinese! Mervyn Cooke's excellent booklet notes mention that the "wrong" recurring note (my phrase) during the "The Padstow Lifeboat" represents the sound of the foghorn at the nearby Trevose Head lighthouse. I had not known this and it adds to my enjoyment.

I like that foghorn moment - great fun!

[kyjo]

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?

Bit of a belated response here! I would say that overall, his concerti are a bit of a mixed bag, but the best ones definitely deserve to be heard. The Guitar Concerto is my favorite, with its glorious tune in the first movement and mysterious second movement. Following closely behind is the Concerto for 2 Pianos 3-Hands, which is tremendous fun all-around. Not technically a concerto, but the Fantasy on a Theme of John Field for piano and orchestra is a substantial, tremendously exciting, and phantasmagorical work with passages resembling some of the more nightmarish sections of his symphonies. His Viola Concerto and Clarinet Concerto no. 2 (with its jazzy finale) are also particular favorites. I find the rest of his woodwind concerti (the ones for flute and horn) to be less interesting.

[Roasted Swan]

Bit of a belated response here! I would say that overall, his concerti are a bit of a mixed bag, but the best ones definitely deserve to be heard. The Guitar Concerto is my favorite, with its glorious tune in the first movement and mysterious second movement. Following closely behind is the Concerto for 2 Pianos 3-Hands, which is tremendous fun all-around. Not technically a concerto, but the Fantasy on a Theme of John Field for piano and orchestra is a substantial, tremendously exciting, and phantasmagorical work with passages resembling some of the more nightmarish sections of his symphonies. His Viola Concerto and Clarinet Concerto no. 2 (with its jazzy finale) are also particular favorites. I find the rest of his woodwind concerti (the ones for flute and horn) to be less interesting.

I agree with what you say.  But I would add the Clarinet Concerto No.1 on this new disc which I think is the best of Arnold's more serious/non-crowd-pleasing concertos.... the performance here is absolutely top notch

[vandermolen]

I like the PC (for three hands) and the Guitar Concerto in particular.

[kyjo]

I agree with what you say.  But I would add the Clarinet Concerto No.1 on this new disc which I think is the best of Arnold's more serious/non-crowd-pleasing concertos.... the performance here is absolutely top notch

I'll definitely give that new recording a spin! I recall it being a very serious and rather acerbic work (compared to most of his other concerti).

[Albion]

I like the PC (for three hands) and the Guitar Concerto in particular.

Bang on! Add the Concerto for Piano Duet, the Philharmonic Concerto and the Double Violin Concerto and you're in business...

 

[Roasted Swan]

I picked up recently quite cheap this disc;



Which - as can be seen from the back cover image includes all of Arnold's music for flute.  This actually makes for a very entertaining and diverse programme.  Helped by the fact that Galway is backed by some pretty stellar fellow players.  The Three Shanties are very well known (I bet just about every player of any standard who has been in a woodwind quintet will have tried them they are such fun).  But coming back to the 2 Concerti they are rather good too.  In fact the whole programme is a winner.

I know in the flute community Galway can be a bit of a marmite thing (love it or hate it) I guess mainly because when at a certain point in his career he was promoted as "the world's best flautist" there were other players his equal (probably!)  The truth is he DOES has a quite unique sound -"pipey" with that fast vibrato.  I don't know enough about the flute to express an opinion either way but I enjoyed this disc a lot.

[lunar22]

my favourite concerto is the viola, despite it's somewhat throwaway finale. Indeed it's one of my favourite Arnold works full stop. Amazingly, I saw it done live -- of course by an amateur orchestra as professionals still won't play him for some reason (unless making a recording). I saw the complete symphonic cycle one year at the Arnold Festival. All amateur (or at best semi-pro) orchestras but somehow Arnold can still work that way.

[lunar22]

Just to put my cards on the table-- Arnold is my favourite English composer by a country mile. The symphonies are nearly all wonderful and at least half of the concertos are also very fine. Not to mention songs and chamber music. What I don't really respond to it what mainly gets performed -- the Dances and the like. It's not surprising that he still doesn't really get his due.

[kyjo]

my favourite concerto is the viola, despite it's somewhat throwaway finale. Indeed it's one of my favourite Arnold works full stop. Amazingly, I saw it done live -- of course by an amateur orchestra as professionals still won't play him for some reason (unless making a recording). I saw the complete symphonic cycle one year at the Arnold Festival. All amateur (or at best semi-pro) orchestras but somehow Arnold can still work that way.

Indeed, it's a fine work. But yeah, Arnold did have a rather annoying habit of writing somewhat "throwaway" finales in his concerti, often after extended, probing slow movements - as in the Viola Concerto. My absolute favorite concerto by him is the one for guitar (that glorious tune in the first movement!), followed by the unabashedly populist Concerto for 2 Pianos 3-Hands, the phantasmagoric Fantasy on a Theme of John Field for piano and orchestra, the Clarinet Concerto no. 2 (with its jazzy finale), and the Viola Concerto.

[kyjo]

Just to put my cards on the table-- Arnold is my favourite English composer by a country mile. The symphonies are nearly all wonderful and at least half of the concertos are also very fine. Not to mention songs and chamber music. What I don't really respond to it what mainly gets performed -- the Dances and the like. It's not surprising that he still doesn't really get his due.

He's certainly one of my favorite English composers! He was equally at home in writing both "serious" and "light" music, but much like the equally underrated Kabalevsky from the Soviet Union, he's often dismissed as a composer of exclusively light music (not that there should be anything wrong with that, of course!) whilst in reality there are numerous works of great depth and substance in his output. What I wouldn't give to see a live performance of the 5th Symphony at some point in my life, but I'm not holding my breath...

[lunar22]

Indeed, it's a fine work. But yeah, Arnold did have a rather annoying habit of writing somewhat "throwaway" finales in his concerti, often after extended, probing slow movements - as in the Viola Concerto. My absolute favorite concerto by him is the one for guitar (that glorious tune in the first movement!), followed by the unabashedly populist Concerto for 2 Pianos 3-Hands, the phantasmagoric Fantasy on a Theme of John Field for piano and orchestra, the Clarinet Concerto no. 2 (with its jazzy finale), and the Viola Concerto.

exactly -- the slow movement of the viola concerto is absolutely vintage Arnold but he can occasionally spoil things by being seemingly frightened to remain in a serious mood. On the other hand, the unpredictability is also arguably one of the most compelling things about him -- a conundrum to the last. I'm possibly slightly less convinced than you with the clarinet concerto but agree entirely with the other choices. I'd never expected a guitar concerto to be so interesting. By the way, although I slightly turn my nose up at the Dances, there is some hilarious lighter Arnold such as the Carnival of the Animals or the Grand Grand Overture with the vacuum cleaners carefully selected to be at the right pitch.

[Symphonic Addict]

What I wouldn't give to see a live performance of the 5th Symphony at some point in my life, but I'm not holding my breath...

I had the immense pleasure to hear this magnificent symphony live just before the pandemic, and I don't think that a concert like that will take place soon.