Malcolm Arnold’s Four Cornish Dances (1966) Part 3

Selective Reviews of the Recordings: The earliest recording of these Dances was made by the BBC at the premiere on 13 August 1966, with the composer conducting. It was released on Malcolm Arnold: The Composer/Conductor A 75^th Birthday Tribute in 1996. The reviewer E.G. (Edward Greenfield) in The Gramophone (November 1996) highlighted ‘the joyful wildness in this Prom version, full of humour, which sets them apart from studio performances.’ The cheering and applause have been included at the end of the last dance. 

T.R. (Trevor Harvey), provided an assessment of Malcolm Arnold conducting the City of Birmingham Orchestra (HMV ASD 2878) in the May 1973 edition of The Gramophone.  This LP included the Peterloo Overture, op.97 and the great Symphony No.5, op.74. Harvey writes that the ‘Cornish Dances’ ‘are pretty well-known by now and are wholly delightful…’ He wonders if the third dance is actually based on a genuine ‘Moodey (q.v.) and Sankey’ tune, or whether it is ‘a clever Arnold imitation.’ Whatever the provenance, he identifies ‘an absolutely dead-pan performance that makes the point to perfection.’  This recording was re-released on CD in 2001. (EMI Classics CDZ 5 74780 2)

Six years later, Harvey (The Gramophone March 1979) reviewed the Lyrita album (SRCS.109), of Malcom Arnold’s Dances which featured the composer conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He admits that his ‘own favourite set is the less often played ‘Cornish Dances’, not least because of the second dance, a nostalgic and most evocative piece inspired by the deserted engine houses and tin mines that were once Cornwall’s wealth’ and he was also impressed with the ‘wonderfully ‘dead-pan’ (an expression he likes) performance of a pseudo Methodist Moody and Sankey hymn tune.’ It is a ‘testimony to Arnold’s love of the Cornish people.’

Chandos released their conspectus of the ‘Dances’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Bryden Thomson. Ivan March (The Gramophone, October 1990) considers that although Arnolds’s ‘gleeful sense of irony is still apparent in his solemn ‘Sankey and Moody’ (q.v.) pastiche, the sky now has become rather more cloudy...’

In 1990 Edward Greenfield (E.G.) reviewing the Lyrita CD release of the LP (SRCD 201) (The Gramophone December 1990) agreed with Trevor Harvey that his favourite set was the ‘Cornish Dances.’ He suggests that the work is:

 ‘in tribute to Arnold’ s years as a Cornish resident, the colour and vigour which mark all these dances, goes further towards deeper emotions, notably in the second dance with its melancholy chromatic melody…’ Greenfield considers the third dance as being ‘a sublimation of a Salvation Army band, with a Moody and Sankey-style hymn rising in thrilling crescendo.’

Malcolm Arnold paces the hymn slower than Bryden Thomson, thus making ‘the piece far more powerful.’  E.G. points out that the Liner notes erroneously omit the word ‘senza’ from the direction ‘sempre senza parodia, which would change the interpretation away from Arnold’s ‘underlying seriousness’ to one of parody.

Robert McColley, (Fanfare, January 1997) assessing the Naxos recording the Dances with Andrew Penny and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra on Naxos (8.553526) writes:

‘In the Cornish Dances hints of something less cheerful begin to appear, though there is nothing like the long stretches of tragic and despondent music we find in the Fifth, Seventh, or Ninth Symphonies…The cheer is much diminished, but not the originality, or the ability to directly reach the heart as well as the ear of the listener. No one who has developed an interest in the music of Malcolm Arnold can be without…these symphonies-in-miniature.’

Select Discography:
1. Malcolm Arnold: The Composer/Conductor A 75th Birthday Tribute, Four Cornish Dances, Peterloo Overture, Concerto for Two Pianos (Three Hands), Song of Simeon, Viola Concerto, Fair Field Overture, Concerto for Two Violins and strings, Fantasy for harp, Sinfonietta No.1, Horn Concerto No.2, Five Blake Songs. BBC Radio Classics 15656 91817-2 (1996)
2. Malcolm Arnold/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm Arnold: Orchestral Works, Four Cornish Dances, Peterloo Overture, Symphony No.5 HMV ASD 2878 (1973) EMI Classics CDZ 5 74780 2 CD (2001).
3. Malcolm Arnold/London Philharmonic Orchestra, Four Cornish Dances, English Dances, Irish Dances, Scottish Dances, Solitaire: Sarabande and Polka. Lyrita SRCD 201 (1990) Original Vinyl, SRCS 109 (1979)
4. Bryden Thomson/Philharmonia Orchestra, Four Cornish Dances, English Dances, Scottish Dances, Irish Dances, Solitaire: Sarabande and Polka. Chandos CHAN 8867 (1990)
5. Andrew Penny/Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Four Cornish Dances, English Dances, Scottish Dances, Irish Dances, Welsh Dances. Naxos 8.553526 (1996)
6. Elgar Howarth/Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Four Cornish Dances etc., Conifer CDCF 222 (1993)

Bibliography
Burton-Page, Piers, Philharmonic Concerto: The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold (London, Methuen, 1994)
Cole, Hugo, Malcolm Arnold: An Introduction to his Music (London, Faber, 1989)
Jackson, Paul R.W., The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003)
Craggs, Stewart R., Malcolm Arnold: A Bio-Bibliography, (Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1998)
Meredith, Anthony and Harris, Paul, Malcolm Arnold: Rogue Genius, (Norwich, Thames/Elkin, 2004)
Hunt, Phillip, Malcolm Arnold in Cornwall http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Jan06/Arnold_Cornwall.htm (accessed 4 June 2016

The files of The Musical Times, Fanfare, The Gramophone, The Northampton Chronicle and Echo, Music & Letters, CD liner notes, etc.

Concluded