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Track Listings
| 1. Symphony No. 7, Op. 113 - Irish NSO/Penny. |
| 2. Symphony No. 8, Op. 124 - Irish NSO/Penny. |
Product Description
CD Composer: Arnold,Malcolm
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
To those familiar with his English (etc) Dances, film music and even his earlier symphonies, the 7th Symphony (particularly) will come as a surprise: an unsettling, stridently-scored, relentless and deeply pessimistic work, that puzzles and occasionally irritates when first encountered but which begins to reveal itself on repeated hearings. The 8th seems less hard-driven, but the pessimism is still there, despite the folksy tune of its first movement and the attempt to recapture the spirit of Arnold's early symphonies in the finale.
Some knowledge of the composer's final years (which can be gained from Tony Palmer's documentary film Towards the Unknown Region) will help the listener to get to grips with these two works. It is now evident that the earlier picture of Malcolm Arnold the ebullient entertainer who captured the public imagination in the 1950s and 1960s was only half the story. These two works, plus the final (9th)symphony reveal the other Arnold, only hinted at in such places as the Lento of the 2nd Symphony and the second Cornish Dance.
The Naxos recording highlights the splendid brass and woodwind of the Irish orchestra, the starring figures in Arnold's score (eg the coldness of the flutes at the start of the second movement of the 7th, and the prominence of Arnold's own instrument, the trumpet) together with the percussion (the incessant drum rythyms of the 7th's first movement): the strings are less prominent in two works that exhibit the composer's characteristically light, transparent scoring.
In short, an excellent recording of two challenging works.
Some knowledge of the composer's final years (which can be gained from Tony Palmer's documentary film Towards the Unknown Region) will help the listener to get to grips with these two works. It is now evident that the earlier picture of Malcolm Arnold the ebullient entertainer who captured the public imagination in the 1950s and 1960s was only half the story. These two works, plus the final (9th)symphony reveal the other Arnold, only hinted at in such places as the Lento of the 2nd Symphony and the second Cornish Dance.
The Naxos recording highlights the splendid brass and woodwind of the Irish orchestra, the starring figures in Arnold's score (eg the coldness of the flutes at the start of the second movement of the 7th, and the prominence of Arnold's own instrument, the trumpet) together with the percussion (the incessant drum rythyms of the 7th's first movement): the strings are less prominent in two works that exhibit the composer's characteristically light, transparent scoring.
In short, an excellent recording of two challenging works.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'm afraid that I was one of the many people who dismissed Arnold as a successful composer of light music and film scores, feeling that he was out of his depth when it came to writing symphonies. On first hearing, there was something profoundly unsettling about his symphonies, which would alternate between manically cheerful melodies and utter despair. I now realise that this apparent lack of consistency was a reflection of Arnold's manic-depressive illness rather than any incompetence on the composer's part and his symphonies deserve greater critical acclaim than they initially received.
The Seventh Symphony is one of his finest works. Each movement is a portrait of one of his three children, but the result is not one of domestic bliss. Indeed, this music is possibly the most powerful and agonising work Arnold ever wrote. This music isn't easy listening, but it is well-argued and utterly compelling.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download
I heard the slow movement to the 7th symphony by accident. I couldn't get radio 1 on my car radio and instead I caught those haunting flutes opening the movement and just had to pull over to listen. What a piece of writing. Both symphonies take you on a journey through joy and dispair. The pain and hopelessness of depression are powerfully conveyed here, but it isn't all gloom. He deserved to be better known and produced a wide variety of music, but these are my favourites.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. A. R. Boyes
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I don't wish to dwell too much on the psychology behind the music - Mondoro does that pretty well - but these are two highly complex and unsettling scores. The Seventh - with each movement dedicated to one of his children does, according to the composer, depict them to some extent. Parenthood sounds like a nightmare for Arnold! I think it best to ignore this and take the music as you find it. It is indeed tortured but the advanced harmonies of the Seventh may be in part an attempt to keep up with modern fashions. The employment of repeated brass and tam tam chords a la Messiaen is strange but compelling and the giant cowbell in all three movements sounds violent.
And yet; the cowbell appears at the end of the work prior to a massive chord blazing in triumph or relief. Prior to that we have what sound like childish tantrums and Irish band music. So many disparate elements in all three movements but so powerful and convincing from beginning to end.
The Eighth might seem a tad gentler but the mood vears between sourness and bitter resignation in both the first two movements. The finale has the feel of late Nielsen: trying to sound jolly and upbeat but getting irritable and frustrated. The mood sinks towards the resignation that haunts his final symphony but, again, to surprise us, the work ends in another blaze of glory.
After hearing the Fourth and Sixth symphonies, whose finales end in apparent triumph, there is a difference here. Those earlier works sound deliberately hollow but these later symphonies sound very sincere at their conclusion - perhaps not triumph but maybe more relief and defiance. The pain that fills these two symphonies doesn't kill the spirit entirely.... Read more ›
And yet; the cowbell appears at the end of the work prior to a massive chord blazing in triumph or relief. Prior to that we have what sound like childish tantrums and Irish band music. So many disparate elements in all three movements but so powerful and convincing from beginning to end.
The Eighth might seem a tad gentler but the mood vears between sourness and bitter resignation in both the first two movements. The finale has the feel of late Nielsen: trying to sound jolly and upbeat but getting irritable and frustrated. The mood sinks towards the resignation that haunts his final symphony but, again, to surprise us, the work ends in another blaze of glory.
After hearing the Fourth and Sixth symphonies, whose finales end in apparent triumph, there is a difference here. Those earlier works sound deliberately hollow but these later symphonies sound very sincere at their conclusion - perhaps not triumph but maybe more relief and defiance. The pain that fills these two symphonies doesn't kill the spirit entirely.... Read more ›
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