Malcolm Arnold: Symphonies 5 & 6 [CD]

Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was nothing if not a man of contradictions. The tumultuous nature of his life is well-known, and is laid bare before us in his "serious" music. He is better-known to the general public for his dozens of film scores, none more famous than that for "Bridge on the River Kwai", but the backbone of his output is the series of nine symphonies. It is in these that we receive a glimpse - or perhaps more than a glimpse - of Arnold the man. The late Vernon Handley has commented on the astonishing variety of moods discernable in the symphonies of Sir Arnold Bax, but there the mood-changes are quite subtle, with little of the jarring mood swings we find in Malcolm Arnold's music. One moment we can be swept away in a lush, melodic romanticism, the next we are being blown away in a torrent of screaming discords. The two symphonies on this Chandos disc (the same pairing as on the Naxos label) provide a fair reflection of the mercurial nature of Arnold's symphonic output.

The first movement of the Fifth Symphony certainly lives up to its "tempestuoso" marking. There is a continual restlessness about it - an apparent frantic searching for direction, with sharp contrasts in tempo and dynamics, the timpani adding explosive force. Yet amidst all the tumult are some gentler interludes, such as the delicate theme for harp, celesta and glockenspiel. The sadly elegiac second movement reminds us that the symphony is a reflection on some of Arnold's friends who died tragically young (including the clarinettist Jack Thurston, the horn-player Dennis Brain, and the humorist Gerard Hoffnung). The main theme is one of Arnold's most beautiful melodies. Even this movement, however, does not escape an anguished outburst before one final, hushed presentation of the opening theme. The third movement is a brief, quick-fire scherzo, brilliantly orchestrated, with a catchy theme in the wind instruments disturbed by percussive outbursts and rowdy brass interjections. The finale opens with a lightly-scored "pipe and tabor" theme, but before long the unnerving brass interjections weigh in once more. Material from the first movement is explored, and the lovely second movement theme returns glowingly in the full orchestra, after which the symphony seems to deconstruct itself, ending with tolling tubular bells which surely remind us of the symphony's subtext.

The Sixth Symphony was written during Arnold's years in Cornwall. The first movement is all energy as themes, or fragments of theme, are tossed about the orchestra, often on a bed of lower strings playing pizzicato. There are menacing brass fanfares and harsh discords, and a series of threatening crescendos on repeated notes in the woodwind and brass that collapse into a sardonic, hysterical laughter in the trumpets. This is not easy-listening music, and must have cost Arnold an effort to write. The second movement opens in muted fashion with soft, spectral chords in the strings, and the mood is decidedly sombre. Timpani and side-drum set up a funereal rhythm reminiscent of Mahler, after which a trumpet solo is sounded over the string harmonies that opened the movement. A jazzy central section intervenes, driven by a cymbal and tanbourine rhythm, but the Mahlerian funeral march restores the dominant mood, ending in a final crescendo cut short by the tambourine. The third movement rondo brings welcome relief with a bright and breezy brass-dominated opening theme of the kind you tend to find yourself humming for days afterwards. The tubular bells that sound at the end of this symphony are all jubilation, as different in mood from those that end the Fifth Symphony as chalk from cheese.

Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra treat us to splendid performances of both works.

This disc was my first exposure to Arnold symphonies - they are wonderful pieces. Arnold is probably more famous for his film music, and this comes across, with a wide range of dramatic styles. The LSO are stunning - huge dymanic range from hardily audible soft strings to spectacular brass playing. Awesome wind solos and lots of groovy stuff for the percussion to play with all the toys in the box! Bravo