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Details
Online Event
Northampton
England
Programme
Ruth Gipps – Kensington Gardens Suite for oboe and piano, Op.2
Malcolm Arnold – Sinfonietta No.3 Op. 81
Malcolm Arnold – Water Music
Malcolm Arnold – Five William Blake Songs, Op.66
Malcolm Arnold – Kensington Gardens (For voice and piano)
Performers
Lynn Arnold – piano
Scott Mitchell – piano
Ewan Millar – oboe
Royal College of Music (musicians)
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Free-to-view and presented live by Director Paul Harris, the Festival’s digital live stream day features performances of some of Malcolm Arnold's greatest solo, chamber and orchestral music as well as talks, lectures and exclusive interviews.
Paul Harris says, “The day is structured around the years that have their anniversary this year; 1934, 1944, 54, 64, 74 …etc. and what Malcolm was writing and doing in those years. We are also featuring all of his wonderful songs as the central theme performed by Claire Thompson and Scott Mitchell - Malcolm is not well-known for his vocal writing and our programme will give a fascinating insight into this genre. Also a host of Arnold specialists will be contributing through their knowledge and enthusiasm to bring together another fascinating and engaging day of music making.”
Harris himself will give a talk on Malcolm Arnold at the Royal College of Music, and there are further talks by Arnold authorities including Dr. Timothy Bowers, Dimitri Scarlato, Eleanor Fox, Gus Woodward, and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster and long-time Arnold enthusiast, Martin Handley.
Amongst the assortment of Malcolm Arnold’s chamber works will be historic recordings and specially recorded performances by students from Chethams’ School and the Royal College of Music. Soloists taking part, who will also introduce their pieces, include soprano, Claire Thompson, pianists Scott Mitchell and Lynn Arnold, and oboist Ewen Millar.
Amongst other performances featured will be Kensington Gardens for oboe and piano, a piece by Arnold’s fellow composer at the Royal College of Music, Ruth Gipps, known affectionally to Malcolm as ‘Widdy’. Written for Gipps’ own instrument and piano, this is an engaging short suite of three pieces named Elfin Oak, Fat Pigeon and Chestnut Trees. Alongside Arnold’s songs from his own Kensington Gardens are his William Blake Songs, which were hailed by Gipps as “the real Malcolm”.
Both dramatic and playful in tone, the Sinfonietta No 3, Arnold’s third 'Little Symphony' completed in September 1964, extends the scope of his two earlier essays in this form and is scored for a classical chamber orchestra, demonstrating all the usual hallmarks of the composer’s inventiveness in smaller scale.
From the same year, the celebratory Water Music was commissioned by the National Trust for the opening of the Stratford Canal. In three movements, the piece was written for wind and percussion to be played on a raft moored on the River Avon, and later transcribed by the composer for full orchestra.
Refer to the website for the full programme and link to view.
