January 2012
Blu-ray release of the 1958 John Huston/Malcolm Arnold film Roots of Heaven. This action-packed film tells of the battle to preserve the wild elephant herds of French Equatorial Africa. Starring Trevor Howard, Errol Flynn, Juliette Greco and Orson Wells – with a glorious score by Malcolm Arnold – the story is driven by the passionate belief of a crusading environmentalist (Merel, played by Trevor Howard) to preserve the African elephant from extinction.
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October 2011 The Sixth Annual Malcolm Arnold Festival 21st – 23 October 2011: Paul Harris, Artistic Director of the Malcolm Arnold Festival, celebrated the 90th anniversary of the birth of the composer in the best way possible in October: all nine of Sir Malcolm’s magnificent symphonies were performed over one weekend in his home town of Northampton. Read more …
Reviews:
Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 - Ivan March
"... an achievement unique in British music-making.
Apart from the sheer enjoyment, it is a salutary experience to hear the nine symphonies in the order in which they were written and discover again how vividly original is their scoring and individually memorable are their themes. Alongside the rich, tuneful, lyrical writing, there are clashes of bold dissonance and moments of violence which one female listener suggested to me are essentially 'man's music' These symphonies are characteristically unpredictable and hauntingly intense.
...The weekend was unforgettably stimulating." Read more …
Musical Opinion, November/December 2011 – Edward Clark
“This festival, under the inspired direction of Paul Harris, offered the most comprehensive assessment of Arnold’s stature as a composer.
… a true genius living in changing and troubled time ….”
October 2011 Celebrating the genius of Sir Malcolm Arnold
Malcolm Arnold Festival - Peninsula Arts & Plymouth University (28-30 October) Simon Ible, Director of Music On 28 October at Plymouth University Simon Ible launched this exciting music and film festival with his personal reflections of the man and his music.
From 1999 until his death in 2006, Malcolm Arnold was an Honorary Patron of the Ten Tors Orchestra. To mark the 90th anniversary of the composer’s birth this October, the orchestra performed his ‘Little Suite for Orchestra No 1’, ‘Sinfonietta No.1’, ‘Four Cornish Dances’ – and the rarely heard ‘Viola Concerto’, with the brilliant young soloist Richard Waters. The concert, conducted by Simon Ible, took place at St Andrew’s Minster Church, Plymouth on the 29th October.
The festival also featured the Arnold Camerata, who paid their own tribute to the composer in their concert on 30th October at the Sherwell Centre. Their programme tapped into the rich seam of Arnold chamber works, including the ‘Wind Quintet Op 2’, ‘Fantasy for Flute’, Fantasy for Oboe’, ‘Fantasy for Flute & Clarinet’, ‘Divertimento for Flute, Oboe & Clarinet’, and the much loved ‘Three Shanties for Wind Quintet’.
Malcolm Arnold’s film music was one of the highlights at this festival, with screenings of ‘Whistle Down the Wind’(1961), ‘The Belles of St Trinians’ (1954), ‘Hobson’s Choice’(1954), and ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’(1957). These iconic films – together with Tony Palmer’s powerful 2003 documentary ‘Towards the Unknown Region’ – were shown at Plymouth’s Jill Craigie Cinema.
October 2011
Cello Concerto, Op 136; Concertino for Flute and Strings, Op 19a; Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet, Op 140; Saxophone Concerto; Symphony for Strings, Op 13
Raphael Wallfish (cello); Esther Ingham (flute); John Turner (recorder)
Carl Raven (saxophone)
Northern Chamber Orchestra / conductor Nicholas Ward;
Manchester Sinfonia / conductor Richard Howarth
Naxos 8572640
Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 – Andrew Achenbach
‘Manchester gets to grips with concertante Arnold. Two meaty offerings from opposite ends of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s career top and tail this stimulating Naxos anthology.
… The performances span a period of some five years and emanate from no fewer than four different venues) but are never less than expert and thoroughly dedicated. No true Arnold enthusiast will want to miss this valuable release’. Read more …
October 2010 German artist Gerd Jansen has created a series of stunning digital works of art featuring the music and images of Malcolm Arnold.
