Commercial / Publicité
If Aaron Copland have been English, he’d have been Malcolm Arnold.
And vice-versa.
Generally, on this cornucopia assortment of Arnold’s music, the Englishman veers simply as Copland did from huge orchestral competence to freshly tinned corn. However simply once you suppose the composer’s not coping, or Copland, Arnold pulls a firecracker out of the woodwind and you start to know why some cognoscenti deem him essentially the most underrated British composer of the 20th century.
Commercial / Publicité
The place to start? With a 1957 Commonwealth Christmas Overture which, amid a lot tinsel and mistletoe, you’ll hear stretches of Copland’s Hollywood rodeo alonngside passages of Caribbean steel-band calypso that may be banned these days for cultural misappropriation. Arnold, that yr, gained an Oscar for David Lean’s Bridge on the River Kwai. Copland gained 6 Oscars, the final in 1950.
Arnold’s 1948 clarinet concerto anticipates Copland’s by two full years. Whereas frisky and full of excellent tunes, it lacks the Mahlerian hinterland and heartbreak resort ambiance that Copland’s composed for Benny Goodman. The soloist on this album is the empathetic Michael Collins, darkly reflecting on the a number of misfortunes of a composer who suffered extreme temper swings and was as soon as confined to a psychological hospital.
Arnold’s Philharmonic Concerto was commissioned by Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for his or her Carnegie Corridor debut in November 1976, coinciding with the bicentenary of American independence. Arnold, inevitably, raids the cookie jar of musical Americana, precisely as Copland did in Appalachian Spring. Ignore the spot-the-tune moments on this 14-minute confection and you’ll discover passages of symphonic transcendence, keenly within the introspective center motion. Malcom Arnold could possibly be a flash composer however he was at all times able to instinct and sharp shock.
There’s extra on this album – I’m passionate about the evocative 1943 tone poem Larch Timber – however time and area are brief. This launch is, I believe, as convincing an introduction to Arnold’s music as could be discovered anyplace, searingly performed by the BBC Philharmonic with Rumon Gamba on the helm. If you wish to uncover the lacking dimension in English music, that is it.
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