COMPOSERS: Arnold
LABELS: LPO
ALBUM TITLE: Arnold
WORKS: Beckus the Dandipratt; Suite: The Inn of the Sixth Happiness; Flourish for a 21st Birthday; Symphony No. 6; Philharmonic Conerto
PERFORMER: London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vernon Handley
CATALOGUE NO: 13
This live recording from a 2004
Royal Festival Hall concert begins
with Beckus the Dandipratt, the
overture that the LPO (with Arnold
as principal trumpet) recorded under
van Beinum in the 1940s. Handley
finds as much cheekiness as in that
version, and more than the composer
in his slow and earthbound 1991
recording. And The Inn of the Sixth
Happiness Suite is a reminder that
Arnold could produce a sweeping
film theme to rival Hollywood,
though it’s in the second movement
– ‘Romantic Interlude’ – that his
ability to write a touching melody
comes to the fore.
The mood changes completely
after the short Flourish, with the grim, twilight world of the Sixth
Symphony. In the first movement
the ghostly jazz-inflected themes
are fragmentary and sinister, and
the harmonies constantly searching
for resolution. Handley’s earlier
studio recording (due for reissue
this year) was more sharply focused,
and the playing more consistent,
especially in intonation, but there’s
a unique tension in this live LPO
performance. That carries through
to the second movement, a quietly
understated funeral march with a
bizarre central interlude which strays
into the world of the big band. In
the last movement some of the string
figuration is untidy, and it’s here that
the LSO/Hickox version leaps ahead
in terms of sheer virtuosity, as well
as clarity of recording. There’s too
short a gap before the Philharmonic
Concerto, a showcase for the LPO,
and, like all of Arnold’s music,
expertly orchestrated. Overall, a
good cross-section of the composer’s
range, clearly if slightly distantly
recorded. Martin Cotton