Arnold: Concerto Roundup

 

While Sir Malcolm Arnold's Grand Concerto Gastronomique is not actually a concerto, I couldn't resist including it in this roundup.
The full title of the work intimates it is a concerto for Eater, Waiter, Food, and Large Orchestra, thus is based on a stage work. The music in this six-movement orchestral suite suggests a piece of great wit, for humor abounds throughout.

Each of the six movements bear a food title, aside from the first-movement Prologue, and the Peach Melba section is essentially a vocalise on Gounod's Ave Maria, complete with soprano soloist.

Creating a recurring theme ala Pictures at an Exhibition is a march-like idea, one very much in the harmonic world Malcolm Arnold enjoyed. Bursts of cinema genre settings come and go as well, in addition to an Elgar-ian commencement march and some far-flung exoticism in the coffee section.

The Grand Concerto won't be a new masterpiece for most, yet the work will be essential for lovers of Arnold's colorful, playful orchestral music. Wonderful playing too from a Latvian orchestra I had not heard of before now.

 

 

 

Since the Decca Malcolm Arnold Edition of Seventeen Concertos does not include the composer's Oboe Concerto or Trumpet Concerto, I though I would cover them here.

Oboe Concerto

What the Decca set did include instead was the Oboe Concertino, op. 28a, a perky little composition, if there ever was one.

The Oboe Concerto, op. 39 is a slightly larger affair, although none of his concertante works run for very long either way. While I enjoyed the lively piping of Nicholas Daniel in op. 28a, here we have something more serious. The lighter moments come and go in short measure, aiming for a stern statement from the oboe instead.

It should be noted the movement structure mimics the unusual one for Arnold's Flute Concerto no. 2, where the fast movement is in the second position, and a slower Allegretto is put at the end. While I almost detected a waltz-like scene in the flute work, I can't say that is the case here with the oboe. If it has a dance flavor, it is a dumpy one akin to an old man pottering around his outdoor shed in the middle of the night.

Trumpet Concerto

The Trumpet Concerto, op. 125 has no delusions of overt seriousness, lining up fanfare figures galore at the opening. The second movement is an odd recitative sort-of section for the trumpet, one of unusual brevity. And of course, Arnold provides a flashy end with a rollicking trumpet part and a romp for the orchestra.

What struck me most in the work is the partnership between the trumpet and the harp. All of a sudden, the trumpet was bandying with the harp across movements, and it is a singular musical pairing. Otherwise, the Trumpet Concerto is a brief affair, giving most of its time to the opening movement.

Recording Round-up


Oboe Concerto, op. 39
Trumpet Concerto, op. 125
      Gordon Hunt, oboe
      John Wallace, trumpet
    Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
    Norman Del Mar, conductor
    EMI / Warner, 1984; 2006

Grand Concerto Gastronomique
    Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
    John Gibbons, conductor
    Toccata; 2021

Find more Arnold recordings HERE!