Malcolm Arnold - Orchestral Works (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Malcolm Arnold

• (01) Cello Concerto, Op. 136
• (04) Concertino for Flute and Strings, Op. 19a
• (07) Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet, Op. 140
• (12) Saxophone Concerto
• (15) Symphony for Strings, Op. 13

Raphael Wallfisch, cello

Esther Ingham, flute

John Turner, recorder

Carl Raven, saxophone

Northern Chamber Orchestra

Nicholas Ward, conductor

Manchester Sinfonia

Richard Howarth, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572640

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Review

Only one of these works appears to be entirely Malcolm Arnold’s own penmanship. The others have been expertly brought to the state recorded here by David Ellis – ‘performing editions’ of the Cello Concerto and Recorder Fantasy, while the Flute Concertino is Ellis’s orchestration of the Flute Sonatina, and the Saxophone Concerto an arrangement of Arnold’s early Piano Sonata of 1942. The Cello Concerto of 1998 is a vintage example of Arnold’s late manner – almost wilfully easy on the ear, yet somehow disturbed and haunting, and relentlessly laced with irony (Arnold was surely English music’s Shostakovich). The opening movement, chirpily chasing its own tail, is followed by a much darker slow one; then the finale tries and fails to bring both elements together in a kind of ‘unanswered question’. The idiom ought to be too thin, but somehow isn’t: instead it’s lean, clean, and uncannily precise.

The other outstanding work is the Recorder Fantasy of 1990, its five movements and four sizes of recorder between them encompassing an ear-catching range of sounds (delivered here with superb panache by John Turner). Among the three other statements in Arnold’s earlier, denser manner, the Symphony for Strings remains one of his most impressive creations, restlessly and probingly inventive. All the performances are excellent, each of them palpably savouring the composer’s diamond-sharp craftsmanship; Raphael Wallfisch’s mellow-toned virtuosity excels even in this company.

-- Malcolm Hayes, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs72640a.php

https://www.allmusic.com/album/arnold-orchestral-works-mw0002199416

https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.572640&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arnold-Cello-Concerto-Raphael-Wallfisch/dp/B005CCJR8C

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Malcolm Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. He was ranked with Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain. His output of works features music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Oscar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Arnold

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