CD1
Tam O’Shanter – Overture,
Op.51 (1955) [08:24]
Comedy Overture, Beckus the Dandipratt,
Op.5 (1943) [07:45]
Water Music, Op.82b (1964)
[08:51]
Anniversary Overture,
Op.99 (1968) [03:48]
Overture: Peterloo, Op.97
(1967) [10:13]
A Flourish for Orchestra,
Op.112 [03:17]
English Dances, Set 1,
Op.27 (first recording) (1950) [08:17]
English Dances, Set 2,
Op.33 (first recording) (1950) [08:55]
Derek James (trombone) (Tam)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon
Handley (Beckus)
BBC Concert Orchestra/Vernon Handley
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Adrian
Boult (Dances)
CD 2
Larch Trees, Op.3 (1943)
[11:15]
Serenade for Small Orchestra,
Op.26 (1950) [11:45]
London Musici/Mark Stephenson
Sweeney Todd – Concert Suite
for Orchestra, Op.68a (1984) [20:09]
(Arranged from the complete ballet score
by David Ellis in association with the
composer in 1984)
Carnival of Animals, Op.72
[08:45]
A Grand, Grand Overture,
Op.57 (1956) [07:19]
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon
Handley
Overture, Beckus the Dandipratt,
Op.5 (1943) [07:16]
Malcolm Arnold (Principal Trumpet)
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Eduard
van Beinum
CD3 – Music for Brass
Quintet for Brass, Op.73 (1961)
[11:53]
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble/Elgar Howarth
English Dances, Set 1,
Op.27 (arr. Farr) (1950) [09:00]
English Dances, Set 2,
Op.33 (arr. Farr) (1950) [08:46]
Four Scottish Dances, Op.59 (arr.
Farr) (1957) [09:01]
Fantasy for Brass Band, Op.114
(1974) [10:33]
Little Suite No.1 for Brass Band,
Op.80 (1965) [07:16]
Little Suite No.2 for Brass Band,
Op.93 (1967) []
Four Cornish Dances (1968) [09:32]
The Padstow Lifeboat [04:44]
Grimethorpe Colliery Band/composer (Padstow);
Elgar Howarth
CD4
The Complete Solo Piano Music: Allegro
in E minor (1937) [00:35]; Three Piano
Pieces (1937) [03:27]; Serenade in G
(1937) [02:10]; Day Dreams (1938) [03:26];
Two Piano Pieces (1941) [02:19]; Piano
Sonata (1942) [09:55]; Three Piano Pieces
(1943) [08:14]; Prelude (1945) [02:44];
Variations on a Ukrainian Folksong,
Op.9 [14:49]; Children’s Suite, Op.16
[04:20]; Two Bagatelles, Op.18 [04:39];
Eight Children’s Pieces, Op.36 [09:42];
Three Fantasies, Op.129 [04:04]
Benjamin Frith (piano)
(Full track and recording details at
end of review)
Sir Malcolm Arnold
died some four weeks short of his 85th
birthday an event that was in part to
have been celebrated by a trio of Decca
boxed sets of which this is one.
The three boxes return
John Kehoe’s splendid Conifer label
recordings from the 1990s to the shelves
and do so at bargain price. These are
creatively supplemented in the present
case with non-Conifer material. A whole
disc is imported from Koch’s 2004 CD
of the solo piano music. The first disc
includes Boult’s pensionable version
of the English Dances – significant
also because this was the works’ first
recording. The second serves up Beckus
by Eduard Van Beinum and the LPO
with Arnold as principal trumpet.
As mentioned in my
review of the symphonies there is a
downside to these sets and that is that
Piers Burton Page’s thorough notes have
disappeared, to be replaced with valuable
but much more concentrated commentary.
These three boxes are
of course a stunning achievement. The
Arnold Edition taken together is the
largest-ever collection of his concert
music, with 61 works spread across three
volumes and 13 discs. It’s a triumph
and a privilege for Decca Universal
that they have been able to come to
an arrangement with John Kehoe, former
Director of Artists and Repertoire at
Conifer Classics. Of course it’s not
completely Coniferous. In the case of
the present box Decca themselves trail-blazed
with 1950s recordings of the English
Dances (Boult), there’s Tam conducted
by Van Beinum in 1948 and the Brass
Quintet recorded by Decca in 1970 by
the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
Onwards to the first
disc: Modern recordings of Tam
and Beckus, boozy
reprobates the pair, are placed side
by side. Handley puts across the Sibelian
echoes with gratifying focus and made
me forget how irritated I thought I
would become at hearing these pieces
yet again. The three pieces that make
up Water Music are best
thought of as a late supplement to the
two sets of English Dances. The
brief Anniversary Overture is
another brilliant entry in the lists
here performed with almost intimidating
force yet lightening for a gracious
summer breeze typical of English pastoralism.
It must have delighted the ex-pats among
the ranks of the Hong Kong Phil for
whose founding this was written. It
continues to delight. I have been quite
nasty about the Peterloo Overture
since I first heard it as a
filler to the composer’s recording of
the Fifth Symphony with the CBSO. I
am afraid I still find it contrived
– it is as if everything happens too
quickly – there is the material for
a searing symphony here but at overture-length
everything seems grafted rather than
grown. This is however the work’s best
recording and performance. A Flourish
was written in 1972 as a commission
from the City of Bristol for the 500th
year since its Charter. The work is
a sort of concentrated digest of Arnoldian
vocabulary concentrated into a highly
economical 3:20 – it’s done here with
startling majesty.
The first disc ends
with a staple of the Decca catalogue
from Ace of Clubs ACLs to Eclipse ECS
LPs: the two sets of English Dances.
Here Decca have done their level best
to soften the passage of the years by
setting the recording level well down.
However when you compensate there is
still that hard shrillness to grapple
with. Hiss can just about be heard with
the volume set high. We are, after all,
36 years back in time from the Conifer-Handley
sessions. Boult handles each dance with
jubilation and measured energy. The
sound still strikes me as under-nourished
and this extends to all parts of the
orchestra. The 'image' is not at all
happy although the engineers have tried
hard. Much can be forgiven though when
it comes to the lovely Mesto
and the Allegro Risoluto is surely
the very recording used by the BBC for
several of its signature tunes. These
are gems but are far better represented
on any of a host of other recordings
- my personal preference being the Lyrita
CD conducted by the composer review
review.
I suspect Handley would have made a
joyous job of these national treasures
at least going by the exuberant performances
heard in Liverpool with the RLPO in
2004.
If we have versions
of the English Dances coming
out of our ears the second disc includes
some real rarities. The early overture-length
Larch Trees is an archetypical
English pastoral tone poem conducted
by Mark Stephenson but with some Debussian
cross-currents also evident in his piano
music of the time. The Serenade Op.
38 is another sheer delight – what an
endlessly inventive composer Arnold
was. Certainly he is distinctive so
you can identify him as easily as you
can Martinu. This is all lovingly done
by the London Musici who now stand to
one side for Vernon Handley and various
orchestras. There are some pleasing
moments in the Sweeney Todd concert
suite – not least the nonchalant clarinet
at 9:38 – but it’s not essential Arnold.
It was written for a John Cranko ballet
in 1959 and appears here in new duds
provided by David Ellis. The Carnival
of the Animals extended the
movements of Saint-Saëns’ famous
work. It was written for a Hoffnung
Festival. One can only wonder at what
antics accompanied the gunshot impacts
of Sheep – fascinating all the
same; as if the shots were designed
to prevent the sheep from sending us
off to sleep. Mice on the other
hand sounds very mice-like – more benevolent
rodents than we have experienced at
the hands of Rodion Shchedrin anyway.
Towards the end they seem to don top-hats
and frock coats. Bats which is
done and dusted in 0:29 remains a mystery
and can only have been designed to have
been seen as well as heard. Overall
this ranks as one of the discoveries
of the set for its wit and bristlingly
creative invention.
A Grand Grand
Overture is Arnold at his most
loony (gunshots and three vacuum cleaners,
a floor polisher, four rifles), wild
and woolly, bustling with Ealing comedy
anarchy, punctuated with the rumbling
of an imposing Gothic organ, yet interspersed
with material from the Fifth Symphony.
The final uproarious bars borrow and
endlessly shuffle and reshuffle the
gestures of a hundred classic finales
- ultimately settling on Tchaikovsky
- good choice! The overture was written
for one of the Hoffnung Festivals during
the late 1950s.
The 1947 recording
of Beckus is distressed
and this becomes really obvious in the
fortissimo passages. The quieter sections
including those where Arnold can be
heard as principal trumpet are bright
as a new coin but any tutti can
be a real trial for the ears. It’s a
still a delight to have and served to
remind me how the composer must have
had Chabrier’s España in
his mind when writing the piece.
Disc 3 includes both
original works and arrangements for
brass band. It kicks off with the carolling
display and sheer joy in life of the
Brass Quintet. It was
recorded in April 1970 at St Johns Smith
Square, London and is played with all-conquering
virtuosity both as to the notes and
the bubbling melodious underpinning.
The Decca recording is upfront and assertive.
Contrast this with the rest of the disc
where although the fireworks are given
plenty of grunt and oomph the balance
is subtly struck. The two sets of English
Dances and the Scottish
Dances are extremely enjoyable
but one feels the want of the colour
and sometimes the want of agility contributed
by woodwind and strings in the originals.
The best example is the most testing
for the arranger’s art: the lovely Allegretto
of the Four Scottish Dances.
This is a piece where the harp, violins
and woodwind are essentials.
Turning to works originally
written for brass the op. 114 Fantasy
for brass band was written for the 1974
brass band championships. It is vintage
Arnold with no diminution of the great
composer’s powers. This is music that
is simultaneously poetic, elegiac, chummy,
regal, sentimental and haunted. It was
written the year after the dark journeying
of the Seventh Symphony. The two Little
Suites for brass band are superbly
done without the grandstanding balance
of the Reference Recordings versions
(RR-66CD) for the Dallas Wind Symphony
with Jerry Junkin. These are clean downright
honest unspectacular recordings of spectacular
works. This is music-making presented
with dour integrity letting the music
do its own persuading which it richly
does: try the lovely Siciliano in
the First Suite. Because of their nature
and sound-world of the original the
transcription of the Cornish Dances
works much better than in the
English Dances and Scottish
Dances. Even the Andantino
that terror of half-lights and mistily
suggestive textures works well in the
Cornish Dances (tr. 24).
Elgar Howarth hands
over the baton to the composer for The
Padstow Lifeboat march. This
is suitably rambunctious, cheery and
full of confidence. The sauntering trio
section goes with a smile and a solo
trumpet gambols and somersaults over
the sedate tune. We do not miss out
on Tapiola-like gales either
and at the end the trumpet’s descant
adds a nautically anarchic paraph over
the top of the heavyweight march.
The Frith disc originally
made for Koch is the single most comprehensive
collection of Arnold’s piano music –
in fact the complete piano music. There
are quite a few lovely but nonetheless
derivative solos here from early in
his career. The Three Piano Pieces
of 1937 doff a hat and possibly
a wig as well to the eighteenth century.
Day Dreams is a gentle
zephyr of a piece – part-smiling pastoral,
part-Debussy, part-Gershwin. Debussy
again reappears in the gloriously soulful
Lament (1943). In 1941
the emphatic Allegro of
the Two Piano Pieces gives
way to a delightful amalgam of aggressive
Prokofiev and elusive Satie. The magical
Piano Sonata of 1941 is redolent
of Lambert and Debussy (clearly a strong
influence at the time) but you will
also hear fore-shadowings of the Concerto
for Phyllis and Cyril as well. Arnold’s
gift for compression and succinctness
of expression are evident from these
many short piano pieces. Even the Sonata
runs to just short of ten minutes and
there are fourteen didactic pieces for
children. The longest piece here is
14:55 in the shape of the Ukrainian
Folksong Variations with its
intriguing mix of Prokofiev, Lambert
and distinctive Arnoldian gestures.
Mark Bebbington has recently issued
on the Somm label a selection of these
pieces including Arnold’s Sonata
and the Variations with the
Lambert sonata and other solos. There
the piano sounds superior although I
do not underestimate the warm aura created
by the Koch team. Arnold’s Two
Bagatelles Op. 18 show the composer
venturing gingerly into dissonant waters
but they are not typical. Fascinatingly
Frith also gives us the Three
Fantasies from 1986 where voluptuously
calculated harmonies have given way
to a new skeletal essence – listen to
the second fantasy to see what I mean.
There remain plenty
of lacunae in the Arnold discography.
The following are unrecorded: the operas
The Dancing Master and The
Open Window, an early symphonic
suite, the Burlesque for horn
and orchestra (premiered at the first
Northampton Arnold Festival), the overture
Curtain Up, incidental music
to The Tempest, the ballet Electra,
the late Cello Concerto The Shakespearian
written for and premiered by Julian
Lloyd-Webber and the John Clare cantata
not to mention the Fantasy for
audience and orchestra and the Grand
Concerto Gastronomique for eater,
waiter, food, orchestra.
This box cannot escape
the charge of miscellany – instead it
heartily embraces it. Don’t let that
put you off. There are some grand discoveries
here including the piano sonata, Carnival
of the Animals, A Flourish,
The Larch Trees, the best-ever
recordings of the Brass Quintet,
the modern recordings of Beckus
and Tam and much else.
Rob Barnett
Volume
1 The symphonies Volume
2 The Concertos Volume
3 Orchestral Music etc.
THE MALCOLM ARNOLD EDITION – Detailed
track listing
Volume 3 – ORCHESTRAL, BRASS
and PIANO MUSIC
CD1
Tam O’Shanter – Overture, Op.51 08:24
Derek James (trombone)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1993 Conifer Records Ltd.
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Mike Cox
Recorded on 19-20 April 1993 at Henry
Wood Hall, London
Comedy Overture, Beckus the Dandipratt,
Op.5 07:45
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, 13-15 October 1997
Water Music, Op.82b 08:51
1. Allegro maestoso 03:09
2. Andantino 03:58
3. Vivace 01:44
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, 13-15 October 1997
Anniversary Overture, Op.99 03:48
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, 13-15 October 1997
Overture: Peterloo, Op.97 10:13
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, 13-15 October 1997
A Flourish for Orchestra, Op.112 03:17
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, London, 13-15 October 1997
English Dances, Set 1, Op.27 (first
recording) 08:17
1. Andantino 02:46
2. Vivace 01:44
3. Mesto 02:15
4. Allegro risoluto 01:32
Lengnick
English Dances, Set 2, Op.33 (first
recording) 08:55
1. Allegro non troppo 02:46
2. Con brio 01:31
3. Grazioso 02:17
4. Giubiloso – Lento e mesto 02:21
Lengnick
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult
1954 Decca Music Group Limited
Recording Producer: James Walker
Recording Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recorded in Kingsway Hall, London, 1-2
November 1954
CD 2
Larch Trees, Op.3 11:15
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1992 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tim Handley
Recording Engineer: Nick Parker
Recorded 10, 11 and 13 December 1991
in Watford Town Hall
Serenade for Small Orchestra, Op.26
11:45
1. Allegretto 03:26
2. Andante con moto 04:42
3. Allegro vivace 02:37
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1992 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tim Handley
Recording Engineer: Nick Parker
Recorded 10, 11 and 13 December 1991
in Watford Town Hall
Sweeney Todd – Concert Suite for Orchestra,
Op.68a 20:09
(Arranged from the complete ballet score
by David Ellis in association with the
composer in 1984)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
P1993 Conifer Records Ltd.
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Mike Cox
Recorded on 19-20 April 1993 at Henry
Wood Hall, London
Carnival of Animals, Op.72 08:45
1. The Giraffe 01:19
2. Sheep 02:00
3. Cows 01:24
4. Mice 01:35
5. Jumbo 02:01
6. Chiroptera (Bats) 00:26
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1994 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Andrew Hallifax
Recorded on 29 and 31 May 1994 at All
Saints’ Church, Petersham, Surrey
A Grand, Grand Overture, Op.57 07:19
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
P1994 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Andrew Hallifax
Recorded on 29 and 31 May 1994 at All
Saints’ Church, Petersham, Surrey
Overture, Beckus the Dandipratt, Op.5
07:16
Malcolm Arnold (Principal Trumpet)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Eduard van Beinum
1947 Decca Music Group
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Recording Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recorded on 16 December 1947 at Kingsway
Hall, London
CD3 – Music for Brass
Quintet for Brass, Op.73 11:53
1. Allegro vivace 03:57
2. Chaconne 04:47
3. Con brio 03:09
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
Elgar Howarth
Recording Producer: Chris Hazell
Recording Engineer: Stan Goodall
Decca Music Group
English Dances, Set 1, Op.27 (arr.
Farr) 09:00
1. Andantino 03:09
2. Vivace 01:45
3. Mesto 02:38
4. Allegro risoluto 01:28
English Dances, Set 2, Op.33 (arr.
Farr) 08:46
1. Allegro non troppo 02:50
2. Con brio 01:31
3. Grazioso 02:11
4. Giubiloso – Lento e mesto 02:14
4 Scottish Dances, Op.59 (arr.
Farr) 09:01
1. Pesante 02:07
2. Vivace 02:06
3. Allegretto 03:32
4. Con brio 01:16
Fantasy for Brass Band, Op.114 10:33
Prelude (Allegro moderato) – Dance
(Allegretto) -
Elegy (Andante con moto) – Scherzo (Vivace)
–
Postlude (Allegro moderato-Vivace)
Little Suite No.1 for Brass Band, Op.80
07:16
1. Prelude (Allegro ma non troppo) 02:05
2. Sicilano (Andantino) 03:19
3. Rondo (Allegro vivace) 01:57
Little Suite No.2 for Brass Band, Op.93
1. Round: Allegro molto e ritmico
2. Cavatina: Andante con moto
3. Galop: Presto
4 Cornish Dances 09:32
1. Vivace 01:33
2. Andantino 03:18
3. Con moto e sempre senza parodia 02:34
4. Allegro ma non troppo 02:17
Faber Music
The Padstow Lifeboat
conducted by the composer 04:44
Henrees Music
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Elgar Howarth
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Nicholas Childs
Assistant Producer: Alison Childs
Recording Engineer: Harold Barnes
Recorded 15-16 April 1993 at Dewsbury
Town Hall
CD4
The Complete Solo Piano Music 71:30
1. Allegro in E minor (1937) 00:35
2-4. Three Piano Pieces (1937) 03:27
5. Serenade in G (1937) 02:10
6. Day Dreams (1938) 03:26
7-8. Two Piano Pieces (1941) 02:19
9. Piano Sonata (1942) 09:55
10-12. Three Piano Pieces (1943) 08:14
13. Prelude (1945) 02:44
14. Variations on a Ukrainian Folksong,
Op.9 14:49
15-20. Children’s Suite, Op.16 04:20
21-22. Two Bagatelles, Op.18 04:39
23-30. Eight Children’s Pieces, Op.36
09:42
31-33. Three Fantasies, Op.129 04:04
Benjamin Frith (piano)
2003 KOCH International – previously issued
on CD as Koch 37162-2
Recording Producer and Engineer: Chris
Thorpe
Recorded at Churchill College, Worksop
DECCA UNIVERSAL 4765348 [4CDs: 60:17 + 65:52
+ 78:31 + 71:30] 
