The advantages of a
composer conducting his own works are
obvious here – this recording screams
forth a fundamental belief in this score
that is unshakeable. There is strong
competition for this product, to be
sure. On super-budget Naxos, the National
Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under
Andrew Penny come in at the usual fiver
and manage to include the Third Symphony
(8.553739); on Chandos, Richard Hickox
adds his thoughts with all the recorded
excellence that company is famous for
(an award-winning recording on CHAN9290).
There was also a version
at one time by another stalwart of the
British music scene, Vernon Handley,
with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,
on Conifer Classics 75605 51258-2).
But for all this, it
is Arnold’s version that carries the
laurels. The orchestration of this piece
is up to Arnold’s usual standards, and
has the quirk that the percussion includes
marimba, bongos and deep tom-toms (this
was not the first time the Caribbean
had infiltrated Arnold’s music - see
the Commonwealth Christmas Overture
of 1957). The Fourth Symphony was influenced
by the Notting Hill race-riots of 1958,
yet there are other items on the agenda,
too. Starting at around four minutes
in, a long-breathed melody suppurates
Radio Two-isms, making up a
contrastive element in unusual fashion.
Astonishingly, Arnold constructs a musically
satisfying twenty-minute structure from
these elements, the musical argument
moving easily and (seemingly) logically
from one mode of expression to the next.
The brief second movement
(a mere five palindrome-obsessed minutes)
opens mysteriously, but becomes progressively
more filmic as it goes on. The extended
slow movement (18’40) is the best movement
in that it presents an atmospheric picture,
in no hurry whatsoever to unfurl itself
and so conjures up an atmosphere of
almost meditative rest. Arnold is an
impressive colourist and his sometimes-luxurious
harmonies help towards an impression
almost of musical decadence. It is true
to say that one can almost swim in some
of the textures.
The marking of the
finale as ‘Con fuoco’ is either deliberate
misnomer or comes from Arnold’s misguided
streak. It is, for want of a better
term, a ‘determined fugal frolic’ in
Arnold’s best, most outrageous manner
– and how the LPO enjoys itself (particularly
the horns, with their whooping glissandi).
This is playful fire – rough play, admittedly,
but play nonetheless. Britten’s Young
Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
(1946) is near at hand at one point,
shoved aside by some disruptive percussion.
The overall impression is of a gifted,
fun-loving composer showing off, and
very impressive and involving it all
is, too.
It is perhaps surprising
(it is to me) to be highlighting a disc
of a Malcolm Arnold symphony as a pinnacle
of the Lyrita catalogue. Yet there are
riches to be discovered here, if you
take the plunge.
Colin Clarke
Footnote
Subsequent to the recording of these
dances Malcolm Arnold completed a set
of Welsh dance. Their exists a recording
of a complete set of dances on Naxos
8553526 [not reviewed LM]
The
Lyrita catalogue
The
Malcolm Arnold Society
The
Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold
by Paul Jackson
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Malcolm Arnold.
