This disc completes Naxos’ first-class survey of the complete symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, a collection that constitutes a prime recommendation in this repertoire, irrespective of price. Chandos’ own cycle also concludes shortly (Fall 2001), with the last three symphonies and the Oboe Concerto released in a two-disc set directed not by Richard Hickox, as were Symphonies 1-6, but by Rumon Gamba. It’s going to have to be pretty special to beat these performances, recorded under the composer’s supervision.
It’s always interesting to hear a second take on music relatively new to disc. Vernon Handley conducted the CD premieres of both symphonies for Conifer only a few years ago, and while the differences between the two versions aren’t all that significant, a few details tip the balance in favor of the newcomer. These are both bitter, aggressive works, despite the fact that they nominally end in “happy” major keys. Arnold’s Mahlerian sense of irony reveals itself in his employment of folk and jazz materials, often as brief islands of nostalgia or simplicity in a tormented orchestral context. It’s clear now, on hearing Andrew Penny’s performance of the finale of the Eighth Symphony, that Handley simply takes the music too quickly to allow its thematic substance proper articulation, particularly from the brass. Penny’s slightly more expansive opening of Symphony No. 7 also allows the music to breathe with no loss of excitement, a critical point in considering the emotionally desperate second subject. But these are by no means “slow” performances; they’re just more vividly inflected, more highly contrasted, and thus a bit richer, emotionally speaking, than Handley’s.
Naxos also offers a better-balanced recording. Conifer spotlights the brass, horns especially, to the exclusion of all else (for all that they play very brilliantly). At climaxes (and this music has a lot of those), the recording loses contrapuntal clarity and makes Arnold’s scoring sound more like band music than it needs to. Granted, the Royal Philharmonic probably is the finer orchestra section by section, but Penny’s Irish players offer a better picture of the music, thanks to a more sensitive and coherent sense of ensemble. In sum, this disc caps an important and very impressive musical achievement for Penny, his orchestra, and Naxos, and represents a fine tribute to a major 20th century symphonist.
