A versatile and accessible composer, Malcolm Arnold has enjoyed popularity, during his lifetime, not known to many composers. He was born in Northampton, England (the hometown of another fine British composer, William Alwyn). In 1938 he entered the Royal College of Music to study the trumpet with Ernest Hall and composition with Gordon Jacob. Arnold left school after only two years to join the London Philharmonic as second trumpet. It was in the 1940s that he started composing seriously. One of his first major orchestral works, Beckus the Dandipratt, was written in 1943 and performed by his orchestra, the London Philharmonic, in 1947. Neo-romantic and traditionally tonal, Arnold's style was, at one time chided by critics and the musical elite. The music is an interesting blend of pop styles such as music hall and jazz, tinged with darkness and dissonance; a dichotomy that is especially evident in the symphonies. Arnold's impressive body of composition includes concertos, chamber music, symphonies, and ballets. But, he is perhaps best known to the public for his over 100 film scores such as Trapeze (1956), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Academy Award. Also highly respected for his conducting skills, Arnold has led many of England's finest orchestras in concert and on recordings.

Arnold conducted the first performance of his Symphony No. 6 with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in 1967. He composed it in the relative tranquility of rural Cornwall. The first movement, however, is in anything but idyllic. There is an unsettled, hyperactive quality with a constant, pizzicato figure in the strings. Tension is created by the use of conflicting tonalities. Persistent, throbbing brass figures lead into a favorite Arnoldian device of pyramids (this time descending; ascending later in the last movement). The next movement is based on a four-note motif initially heard in the woodwinds over a suspended accompaniment. Then, from out of nowhere, comes an amazing bluesy swing section in triplets that explodes into a slow processional. A return of the beginning ends unexpectedly and abruptly (another fave of the composer's). Arnold is his amiable self in the final movement as he prominently features the brass. A fight between major and minor ensues over a justifiably frenetic string section. Major wins out in the end with chimes ringing out a sunnier Arnold. Readers are encouraged to listen to Malcolm Arnold's Symphony No. 2 (1953), Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 54 (1956), and the soundtrack to The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Fans of his symphonic writing may enjoy the music of William Alwyn (1905-1985), Havergal Brian (1876-1972), Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Howard Hanson (1896-1981), Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), Robert Simpson (1921-1997), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), and William Walton (1902-1983).

Similar compositions: Symphony No. 3 (1955-56) by William Alwyn (1905-1985) Symphony No. 6 (1944-47) by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Recommended recording: Chandos 9385 with Richard Hickox conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.

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