[Harp-L] Malcolm Arnold

[Bobbie Giordano <bogio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ok... one more belated post!  ;)  I didn't see anything onlist about 
this, but there is a significant connection to harmonica.

Four weeks ago, on September 23, the music world lost a very important 
composer, Sir Malcolm Arnold, a month before his 85th birthday.  He was 
perhaps best known for his soundtrack for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" 
which earned him an Academy Award, the first British composer to do so; 
but he composed 9 symphonies, 132 film scores, plus ballets, operas, 20+ 
concertos, and more.  His concertos were often written with the soloist 
firmly in mind, and, as many a classically trained harmonica player 
knows, he penned "Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra, Op 46" for Larry 
Adler in 1954.

I'm sure Robert Bonfiglio has played this piece, and I know Douglas Tate 
did as well, because I'm listening to him play it right now as I type 
this!  :)  He really admired Arnold, despite his being often a rather 
gloomy, grumpy sort.  Doug felt he really wrote well for the soloist, 
picking up on the strengths and weaknesses of the instrument in question 
and composing 'playable' works for them that could show them off 
nicely.  [That's not to say Doug didn't also believe James Moody was 
comfortably above Arnold's level in doing just that! ;)]

Just for a bit more, here's an excerpt from an email [May 5, 1996] Doug 
wrote me just before he mailed me this cassette I'm listening to...

"I will cease this little note and get down to recordings.  Revox
15ips half track to Yamaha MT4X to my tape copying machine.  No
wonder they are a mess!  BTW, I have found a recording of me playing
the Malcolm Arnold Concerto in Sweden.  It is the first rehearsal
with the Gothenberg Symphony with full brass and percussion and the
unamplified harmonica cuts straight through the lot. I'm proud of
that. Rotten recording though"

Yeah... we should ALL have such 'rotten' recordings of ourselves!! ;)

The official Malcolm Arnold website is here:
http://www.malcolmarnold.co.uk

The Times Online [London, England] obit:
http://tinyurl.com/syk4q

New York Times obit:
[takes free registration to view]
http://tinyurl.com/o5vzy

For Robert [Bonfiglio]... I wonder, did you ever meet Sir Arnold?  If so, 
what were your impressions?

Best to all, and farewell, Sir Malcolm...
Bobbie
<http://www.tfn.net/~bobg/Renaissance.htm>http://www.tfn.net/~bobg/Renaissance.htm