Naxos Honors Malcolm Arnold’s Centenary

The English composer Malcolm Arnold was born on October 21, 1921. His music has never attracted much attention on this side of the pond. He is probably best known for having produced the score for The Bridge on the River Kwai, which, in turn, is best known for the “Colonel Bogey” march, which Arnold appropriated for the soundtrack. Even so, my guess is that the “Colonel Bogey” name is better known in the United States than Arnold’s name is.

If American’s are aware of any other Arnold composition, then, for better or worse, it is probably “A Grand, Grand Overture,” which he composed to begin the very first satirical program in the Hoffnung Concerts series, which was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London on November 13, 1956. I have always enjoyed listening to the recording made from that concert, not to mention the subtitle specifying the instrumentation for Arnold’s overture: “For 3 Vacuum Cleaners, 1 Floor Polisher, 4 Rifles and Orchestra.”

from the Amazon.com Web page for the collection being discussed

In spite of Arnold’s general unfamiliarity, Naxos decided to honor the 100th anniversary of Arnold’s birth by collecting previously released recordings of Andrew Penny conducting all nine of the composer’s symphonies and his six suites of dances, each consisting of four movements. That box set of six CDs was released this past October 22, the day after Arnold’s birthday. By way of disclaimer, I should note personally that only one of the selections in this collection was familiar due to past listening experiences. That was the Opus 59 set of four Scottish dances on the final CD.

All six of those suites are refreshingly upbeat. They include two sets of English dances (Opus 27 and Opus 33) and single sets of dances from Cornwall (Opus 91), Ireland (Opus 126), and Wales (Opus 138), as well as the Scottish collection. However, Opus 59 seems to have tickled Arnold’s funny-bone more than the other sources. Given my own dispositions, I am inclined to attribute his playful rhetoric to a fondness for single malt Scotch!

Opus 59 is the only set that begins with the Pesante tempo marking. This was Arnold’s way of evoking the bagpipes, and he could not have been more raucous in his rhetoric of depiction. I also liked the slightly tipsy reference to “Shave and a Haircut” that concludes the movement, even thought that motif seems to have American origins. The spirits only get higher in the remaining three movements, whose tempo markings are Vivace, Allegretto, and Con brio.

While I felt that Penny was a bit too polite in his interpretation of Opus 59, one can still grasp the humor that Arnold probably intended. More impressive is Penny’s sensitivity to the prodigious diversity of dispositions that arise in his traversal of the nine symphonies. That journey may lack the profundity that we have imposed on the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven (who had his own sense of humor that would probably have appreciated some of Arnold’s rhetorical turns). On the other hand, the traversal allows one to appreciate the extent of diversity that establishes Arnold as more than just merely prolific.