"Rogue Genius" Unleashed?
by Paul Serotsky
Courtesy of a boardroom
leak, word is out that the director
of a certain music festival has had
a massive change of heart. Apparently,
in an unusually candid briefing, the
director informed his executive committee
of a radical change of policy, more
or less in these words: "As you know,
I have never been a great fan of Malcolm
Arnold or his music. Well, last year,
a soloist I know, who is an Arnold fan,
bet me that I wouldn’t be able to read
Meredith and Harris's hefty biography
'Malcolm Arnold - Rogue Genius' from
cover to cover. Of course, I took up
his challenge.
"To my great surprise,
I actually found the book to be a revelation.
Handing over his cash, the soloist asked
me why I had staged a major celebration
in honour of Ligeti's 80th. birthday,
yet hadn't done the same for Arnold.
When I suggested that this was because
I didn't particularly like Arnold, he
came back at me smartly with, 'But you
don't particularly like Ligeti, either,
do you?' Taken together, these two incidents
gave me much pause for thought."
He continued, "I feel
that I am man enough to admit when I
am wrong, and so, in our coming festival
season, I am going to make amends with
a major celebration of Arnold's music
in this, the composer's 85th. birthday
year. It is my intention that we will
put on a wide range of music exemplifying
Arnold's enormous output. The backbone
will be performances of all nine of
the symphonies, spread evenly right
through the festival. These will be
set against works by Arnold's contemporaries,
men like Alwyn and Rawsthorne, giving
a seasonal theme looking at the work
of 'neglected British composers' which
I hope will spearhead a long overdue
revival in their collective fortunes.
"To complement
the symphonies we will feature a number
of Arnold's concertos, along with some
of his lighter pieces in our weekend
concerts. I also like the idea of having
a special family concert, including
both 'The Song of Freedom' and 'The
Return of Ulysses'. These will be performed,
as originally intended, by young people.
"I would also
like us to put on a Film Music night,
based around the many superb Arnold
scores. Our Chamber Music recitals will
feature several of his solo Fantasies,
piano music, and both the String Quartets.
Finally, an idea that I find really
attractive: in our closing concert we
can do the English, Scottish, Welsh,
Irish and Cornish Dances, with spectacular
views of the locations on ‘big screens’
– oh, and maybe some brilliant lighting
effects. It will make a really sensational
climax to our festival season, and show
Arnold in a new light!"
Paul Serotsky
