In Memorium, Sir Malcolm Arnold: Twentieth Century Composer Of Outstanding Film And Orchestral Music Of Clarity, Passion, Humor, Drama, And Sadness
"Sir Malcolm Arnold, the first British composer to win an Academy Award, died Saturday at the age of 84 after a short illness, his companion said.
Arnold, who won an Oscar for the music to "Bridge on the River Kwai" in 1958, died in the hospital in Norfolk county, eastern England, after suffering from a chest infection, said Anthony Day, Arnold's companion for 23 years.
"People didn't see the man that I knew because he had frontal lobe dementia over the last few years which slowly developed but, being with him, he was a happy, lovely man who enjoyed his music and enjoyed his life," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
Arnold composed more than 130 films scores, including "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," for which he received one of Britain's prestigious Ivor Novello awards in 1958; "Hobson's Choice" and "Whistle Down the Wind."
Arnold also composed nine symphonies, seven ballets, two operas, a musical and more than 20 concertos. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, in 1970.
Arnold died on the day his ballet "The Three Musketeers" premiered at the Alhambra Theatre in the northern English city of Bradford. The performance went ahead Saturday night as planned and was dedicated to him.
Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber said Arnold never received the credit he deserved.
"I think he was a very, very great composer but uneven in his output," he said. "Because he had humor in his music, he was never fully appreciated by the classical establishment. He was a total genius but a very badly behaved genius, but then so was Mozart."
"He was treated appallingly by people who could not live with his bad behavior. He could be extremely rude to people but you should be able to get beyond that and get to the music," he added.
Arnold is survived by two sons and a daughter [who are the subjects of his Symphony #7, available on Naxos. Click link for extensive listening samples of this outstanding modern symphony. Click here for link to extensive listening samples, on Naxos, to Arnold's great final Symphony #9, and an interview with Sir Malcolm Arnold by conductor Andrew Penny]."
Associated Press "British Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold Dies" Washington Post September 23, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/09/23/AR2006092301165.html
See Bob Shingleton's On An Overgrown Path's Arnold's 9th Symphony - neglected 20th century masterpiece?
Sir Malcolm Arnold Commander of the British Empire (CBE) Official Site.
*
"After the oblique and unsettling fusion between classical and jazz elements in the Sixth Symphony, Arnold took until 1973 to complete its successor. Largely written at Sir William Walton's home on the Italian island of Ischia, the work was first performed in London in May the following year. The dedication, "To Katherine, Robert and Edward" – Arnold's children, would hardly merit comment were it not for the character of the score, which has the most extreme emotional aura of any of his works. Whether or not the dedication conceals a deeper personal intent is something on which to ponder."
Keith Anderson: Note on Arnold's Symphonies #7 and #8 on Naxos. [See "About This Recording" at this link.]
Sir Malcolm Arnold
Photo credit: Faber Music via Bob Shingleton's On An Overgrown Path. With thanks.
Arnold, who won an Oscar for the music to "Bridge on the River Kwai" in 1958, died in the hospital in Norfolk county, eastern England, after suffering from a chest infection, said Anthony Day, Arnold's companion for 23 years.
"People didn't see the man that I knew because he had frontal lobe dementia over the last few years which slowly developed but, being with him, he was a happy, lovely man who enjoyed his music and enjoyed his life," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
Arnold composed more than 130 films scores, including "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," for which he received one of Britain's prestigious Ivor Novello awards in 1958; "Hobson's Choice" and "Whistle Down the Wind."
Arnold also composed nine symphonies, seven ballets, two operas, a musical and more than 20 concertos. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, in 1970.
Arnold died on the day his ballet "The Three Musketeers" premiered at the Alhambra Theatre in the northern English city of Bradford. The performance went ahead Saturday night as planned and was dedicated to him.
Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber said Arnold never received the credit he deserved.
"I think he was a very, very great composer but uneven in his output," he said. "Because he had humor in his music, he was never fully appreciated by the classical establishment. He was a total genius but a very badly behaved genius, but then so was Mozart."
"He was treated appallingly by people who could not live with his bad behavior. He could be extremely rude to people but you should be able to get beyond that and get to the music," he added.
Arnold is survived by two sons and a daughter [who are the subjects of his Symphony #7, available on Naxos. Click link for extensive listening samples of this outstanding modern symphony. Click here for link to extensive listening samples, on Naxos, to Arnold's great final Symphony #9, and an interview with Sir Malcolm Arnold by conductor Andrew Penny]."
Associated Press "British Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold Dies" Washington Post September 23, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/09/23/AR2006092301165.html
See Bob Shingleton's On An Overgrown Path's Arnold's 9th Symphony - neglected 20th century masterpiece?
Sir Malcolm Arnold Commander of the British Empire (CBE) Official Site.
*
"After the oblique and unsettling fusion between classical and jazz elements in the Sixth Symphony, Arnold took until 1973 to complete its successor. Largely written at Sir William Walton's home on the Italian island of Ischia, the work was first performed in London in May the following year. The dedication, "To Katherine, Robert and Edward" – Arnold's children, would hardly merit comment were it not for the character of the score, which has the most extreme emotional aura of any of his works. Whether or not the dedication conceals a deeper personal intent is something on which to ponder."
Keith Anderson: Note on Arnold's Symphonies #7 and #8 on Naxos. [See "About This Recording" at this link.]
Sir Malcolm Arnold
Photo credit: Faber Music via Bob Shingleton's On An Overgrown Path. With thanks.
posted by Garth Trinkl at 12:48 PM
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