This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join
Amazon Prime today. Already a member?
Sign in.
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This two-CD set of works by Malcolm Arnold is an enjoyable, if perhaps not wholly distinctive compilation. The standout item has to be the marvellous set of eight English Dances that Arnold penned from 1950-51. Brimful of giddy colour and indelible melody (including, in the fifth dance that irresistibly perky theme from the long-running TV series What the Papers Say), they're a genuine tonic. Boult directs with splendid understanding and affectionate gusto; Decca's beautifully balanced mono production from 1954 remains astonishingly vivid. Written for Julian Bream, the Guitar Concerto of 1959 falls most appealingly on the ear (the first movement boasts a peach of a tune), and soloist Eduardo Fernandez is especially perceptive in the smoky half-lights of the central Lento (a threnody for the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt). Of the two works for brass, the comparative exuberance of the 1961 Quintet contrasts strikingly with the darker-hued, altogether more angular demeanour of the four-movement Symphony from 1978. Certainly, both pieces are immaculately laid out for their respective forces and stunningly well played here producing a first-rate sound. --Andrew Achenbach
