Arnold: Cello Concerto

This recording is a box of delights for Malcolm Arnold fans, as it includes a world premiere recording of the late Cello Concerto, and various arrangements for orchestra of earlier chamber works, including the Concertino for Flute and Strings (from the Flute Sonatina) and the Saxophone Concerto (from the Piano Sonata). There is also a revised version of the Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet. All the necessary arranging and editing has been done by David Ellis. The final work on the programme is the better-known Symphony for Strings which appears as originally written. Here, then, we have a good mix that enables us to compare the earlier and later styles of Arnold's output.

The Cello Concerto was written in 1988 for Julian Lloyd Webber, and is in the usual three movements. In the first, a nimble theme first heard on the cello alternates with a more lyrical idea in which the solo instrument is invited to sing. The second movement is based on a dramatic four-note cell heard at the beginning. The mood is muted and mysterious. The finale is built around a little scurrying motif which is tossed around between cello and orchestra, and includes a brief cadenza before the assertive close.

The Concertino for Flute and Strings was written in 1948 for Arnold's flautist colleague at the RCM, Richard Adeney. The first movement consists of delicate flute figurations against sturdy repeated rhythms in the strings. The second is somewhat darker and more mysterious, with the flute weaving tentatively in and out of the orchestral textures. The brief finale takes up an easy-going melody which tends to stick in the mind long after it has ended.

The late Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet tests the soloist's technique to the limit. A dark, mysterious first movement is followed by a will-o-the-wisp second which seems a good deal quicker than the plain allegro marking. The third is slow and lyrical, with string pizzicatos, while the fourth is an elegant waltz, and the concluding vivace is in rondo form. The piece requires the soloist to use four different types of recorder at various times.

The transcription by David Ellis of Arnold's Piano Sonata (1942) as the Saxophone Concerto perhaps makes this as much Ellis's work as Arnold's; still, the characteristic Arnold hallmarks are there. The work begins in a fairly serious, restless vein, with some vigorous string-work and strong rhythms over which the saxophone sings loudly. The central andante is languid and nostalgic, while the brief finale is a march - or more accurately a parody of one - which terminates in a throw-away conclusion.

The first movement of the Symphony for Strings (1946) is restless and uneasy, full of nervous energy, Bartokian rhythms ,and sudden changes of tempo, with sombre undertones in the slower passages. The second movement has a more airy, lilting quality, with the lower strings adding a sinister touch here and there. The only extended relief from the dark, brooding edginess of the work, however, comes in the finale which is a lively dance with vigorous rhythms, sturdy pizzicatos, and a stong unison ending drawing stumps on one of Arnold's most impressive early efforts.

Following on from the marvellous Symphony cycle by Andrew Penny and the RTE Orchestra, the piano concertante works and string quartets, among others, this new chapter concentrates on concertino works largely orchestrated / transcribed by David Ellis. In the case of the Saxophone Concerto it is lifted from his early Piano Sonata and could claim to be more Ellis' work. Don't let this fact put you off because all the works sound like Arnold and all the notes are his.

The sound recording is, as the Musicweb describes, "vivid". Alternatively you could call that harsh and unforgiving. For the most part it works well but the we hear too much breath in the Flute Concertino. The sound, in other words, is just a bit more honest than you'd like at times.

The Flute Concertino and the Saxophone Conerto date from early in Arnold's career and like nearly all his concertos are short and classically proportioned with a mix of lyricism and a little spice. I'll not go into detail because S.H. Smith's review is very comprehensive for all the works here.

As I find is the case with many of his concertos, most sound quite lightweight compared to the more powerful symphonies. There are exceptions of course, such as the John Field Fantasy and earlier Double Violin Concerto. The largest scale works here are the early and gritty, sometimes disturbing, Symphony for Strings and the very late Cello Concerto. The disc gives the Cello Conerto top billing, being his last "completed" orchestral work (albeit orchetrated by Ellis). In truth the Symphony carries far more wieght than any other works on the disc. The Cello Concerto doesn't plumb the same emotional depths and certainly doesn't sound like it's intended as a swan song. The slow movement does have the dark concentration of Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto (slow movement) and the economy of Shostakovich's Second Violin Concerto(slow movement) but the outer movements skip along efficiently. At twenty minutes it's a relatively brief work and it depends on the slow movement for its weight. The quick finale does enter on a rather matter of fact note rahter than a flourish.

The Symphony is indeed Bartokian with more than a wiff of Berg too. It is more than an exercise in dissonant modernism, containing his trademark lyricism in places and a possible dark personal subtext. This and the First String Quartet in particular, though written decades before, give you some preparation for the dissonance and trauma of his Seventh Symphony and John Field Fantasy. It is the most profound work on the disc, though a fuller string ensemble would have helped here because the sound, being "vivid" is a little thin and unforgiving on the ensemble.

The Recorder Fantasy was a surprise to me. It is a late work and a short work broken up into five small character pieces. It is demanding on the soloist, requiring four different recorders (not all at once of course!) and with some extreme virtuoso display. For all that there are some shadows and there are echoes of his more personal works. This was completed after the Cello Concerto and shows there was still some fire in Arnold's belly: it's quite an unsettling work for one so apparently unassuming.

So as a collection these are not Arnold's greatest works but in Rafael Wallfisch the Cello Concerto has a fine advocate. Any new recording of the excellent Symphony for Strings has to be welcomed even if it's a pity there weren't more players. The other works are relative stocking fillers but I keep being drawn to the Recorder Fantasy. For Arnold fans, with no alternative recordings of many of these works, this recording is a must.