Malcolm Arnold - Ballet Music

Malcolm ARNOLD (1921-2006)

Ballet Music

Homage to the Queen - suite op. 42 (1953) 

Rinaldo and Armida - dance-drama in one act op. 49 (1954)

Sweeney Todd - concert suite op. 68a (1959) (prepared 1984, David Ellis with composer) 

Electra - ballet in one act op. 79 (1963) 

BBC Philharmonic

Rumon Gamba

rec. Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester, 9-10, December 2008

This disc includes the bulk of Arnold’s ballet music. The only works not included here are Solitaire (1956) and The Three Musketeers, which was premièred in Bradford on the very evening that his death was announced. It will be noted that Chandos present these four works in chronological order, which seems a very sensible arrangement. All four works are characterised by a strong dramatic sense and vividly colourful orchestration together with fine melodic invention; in short, all the qualities that made Arnold such an effective composer of film music.

 

Homage to the Queen, which is heard here in the six-movement suite extracted by Arnold himself, was composed to a commission by the Royal Opera House as part of the celebrations to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In his excellent note, Mervyn Cooke describes the backstage rivalry in which Arnold was unwittingly caught up. The music was choreographed by Frederick Ashton and was well received at first, it seems. However, the ballet fell into complete neglect within a year, until it was revived with new choreography in 2006 to mark the Queen’s eightieth birthday.

 

The music is very impressive. The first and last sections have unmistakable Waltonian overtones – and are none the worse for that. On the other hand, the exhilarating second section, ‘Dance of the Insects’, the brief ‘Fire Dance’, and the lovely, lyrical Pas de deux, which forms the fifth movement are quintessential Arnold. It’s all ripe stuff and it’s played with a marvellous mix of finesse and relish by Gamba and his excellent BBC orchestra

 

Ashton was also the choreographer of Rinaldo and Armida, which was commissioned by the Royal Opera House in the immediate wake of Homage to the Queen. The plot is based on an episode in a poem by the sixteenth century poet, Tasso. The enchantress Armida lures lovers to their doom but meets her own end when she falls for the mortal, Rinaldo. The ballet took the form of an extended pas de deux and it contains some strong and descriptive music, orchestrated with consummate skill. The performance here is full of conviction and Gamba realises the dramatic possibilities of the score very well indeed.

 

Sweeney Todd is described on the Malcolm Arnold website as a ballet but Mervyn Cooke refers to it as a “hybrid theatrical entertainment”, composed for the Royal Ballet’s touring company and first staged by them at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The tale of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street has its macabre side but is also a richly slapstick invention at times and both sides come out in Arnold’s entertaining score. This is given here in a seven-movement suite arranged by David Ellis, working with the composer.

 

There’s a strong element of the Keystone Cops at times in this score and several passages recall the world of Beckus the Dandipratt. The dark side of the music is brought out most effectively but the sly, irreverent humour leaves the strongest impression. Unless you are allergic to Arnold’s musical sense of fun I defy you not to smile broadly at the cheeky melody of the second section (track 14); at the helter-skelter music a little later on (track 16); and at the trademark broad melody – complete with twittering birdsong at one point! – mingled with broad humour in the last section, (track 19). This score – and the superb performance on this disc – is a winner!

 

Finally we are given the One Act Ballet, Electra, here receiving its first recording. This was another Royal Opera House work, choreographed this time by Robert Helpmann, who based the action loosely on the tragedy by Sophocles. As befits its subject, this is the darkest music on the disc and it’s compellingly effective, very powerful and often extremely exciting. The music is quite grim in tone and pulls no punches. Arnold makes striking use of a battery of percussion, including bongos, tom-toms and timpani and the resulting rhythmic drive is hugely exciting. As the last section – of three – draws to a close (track 22 from 2:43) the frenetic, menacing drumming impels the music forward with immense, dark power. Here, the vivid and potent Chandos engineering, which is enormously impressive throughout the CD, is absolutely stunning in its immediacy.

 

Over the years Malcolm Arnold’s music has been well served on CD and I have many excellent discs of his music on my shelves. But I fancy this is one of the finest of all. The BBC Philharmonic plays superbly throughout and Rumon Gamba confirms his excellent credentials as an Arnold interpreter that I first encountered in his disc of Arnold overtures a few years ago. Throw into the mix recorded sound in the demonstration class and you have a disc that no admirer of Arnold’s music will want to be without.

 

John Quinn