Malcolm Arnold conducts.......Malcolm Arnold!

My 9 year old started to formally take trumpet lessons this school year at my urging and, because he sees what a great time it is when dear old dad is frolicking about during the Oktoberfest season. That said, we started talking one day about bands I've played in and the subject came to special ensembles, "honor bands." Here in Massachusetts that means district and all state bands. Well, to illustrate what I meant, I pulled out an lp of my first such band, back in 1978, and lo and behold, on the program was Malcolm Arnold's "Four Scottish Dances." No, I did not transfer THAT record but instead, dug out a gem of a stereo lp from around 1960 of Arnold conducting the Dances plus his Symphony No 3. I know that Everest did once release the symphony on cd along with  Boult's premiere recording of Vaughan Williams' Symphony No 9. However, for some reason the Dances were forgotten, well as far as I know. A damn shame too!

I've loved the Four Scottish Dances ever since I first heard and played them. This is Arnold at his absolute irresistable best. These short dances are tuneful, beautifully orchestrated, and delightfully crafted - they are  prefect in length and form. Based on folk tunes of Scotland, Arnold displays an ease with the material and communicates the substance as well as any past master who worked in this mode, whether it be Telemann, Bartok, Vaughan Williams or Schubert. His leadership of the LPO is beyond reproach. I think his former orchestral colleagues respond to his music with utter delight and they convey the wit and charm better than any other recording of these works. As for the third symphony, it is a more difficult work to bring off due in part to its length, density and complexity. Arnold acquits himself well but it is obvious that the shorter dances lend themselves better to his conducting skills. Arnold was first and foremost a composer and excellent trumpet player, not a conductor a by trade.

DOWNLOAD

Music from England conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

Here's one for my friends in the UK, who've recently been through the most tumultuous general election in years! There is no better way to soothe emotions and bring the masses back together then with great music conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.

I've assembled a program of England's best through three centuries. Handel's Water Music is performed by the "Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra" on a Westminster release while Elgar's Three Bavarian Dances and Arnold's English Dances are from a London issue with the more familiar London Philharmonic name of the Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra. All recordings date from the mid 50's.

Boult's Handel is very, very well done. Though performed by a larger body of strings then we are now accustomed to, everything is done so....tastefully...yes, that's the word... that any thoughts of period instrumentation etc..are quickly forgotten. Beautiful playing and Boult moves the music in just the "right" way. Elgar's Bavarian Dances are tossed off with aplomb;  lilting, playful, sparkling with sunshine and rustic peasant humor. The first dance always reminds me so, so much of Dvorak. It's really delightful. Arnold's English Dances are marvelous miniatures; tuneful and simply virtuostic for the orchestra. If you do not know them, you'll love them on first hearing. It doesn't get any better than this.

The older I get, I appreciate musicians like Sir Adrian Boult more and more.  Good musicianship, thoughtful preparation, devotion to the music and....taste.

DOWNLOAD ELGAR AND ARNOLD

DOWNLOAD HANDEL