Malcolm Arnold: A Fantasy on Christmas Carols (arr. Christopher Palmer)

Some 70 years ago, The Holly and the Ivy was released into cinemas in the United Kingdom. The film featured several famous British actors including Ralph Richardson, Ceila Johnson, John Gregson and Denholm Elliot. Cameo appearances were made by Dandy Nichols of Till Death Do Us Part fame and the first Dr Who, William Hartnell. 

The plot is quite straightforward. It is basically a meditation on the meaning of Christmas. A family reunites for the Yuletide festivities and the story centres around a devoted parish priest whose duties lead him to be blind to the problems of his own family. As would be expected of a movie of this kind, the family is ultimately reconciled.

Malcolm Arnold provided the score which was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Muir Mathieson. The soundtrack features the eponymous carol.

In 1991, Christopher Palmer arranged a section of the score, along with some other carols, and entitled the work A Fantasy on Christmas Carols. Other material was gleaned from the 1957 Christmas Round Up TV documentary Christmas around the World as well as some carol arrangements that Malcolm Arnold had made for the 1960 Save the Children fund for choir and brass band. 

In a note on the score, Palmer explains that he took The Holly and the Ivy and The First Nowell from the film, I saw three ships from the TV documentary and The First Nowell and Away in a Manger from the Save the Children event.

Paul R.W. Jackson, in his The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold: The Brilliant and the Dark (Ashgate, 2003) is not over impressed by Palmer’s Fantasy. He writes that “a score such as the Holly and the Ivy, which in the score consists of about five minutes worth of music, does not stand up to Palmer’s total rewriting of the music into something Arnold never intended, a suite lasting almost nine minutes. Yet I think this criticism is somewhat exaggerated. Palmer has rescued some “lost” gems that do not deserve to be on the musical scrapheap. Other reviewers have noticed “a distinctive Arnold touch” these arrangements.

It is quite simply a lovely piece of Christmas alchemy which includes some of my favourite carols. The listener need not bear in mind the original film, but it would be hard not to be moved by this 70 year old celebration of peace, reconciliation, and love, which is what the Season is surely all about.

Malcolm Arnold’s A Fantasy on Christmas Carols (arr. Christopher Palmer) has been uploaded to YouTube, here. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is conducted by Christopher Bell