COMPOSERS: Arnold
LABELS: Chandos
WORKS: Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4
PERFORMER: LSO/Richard Hickox
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 9290 DDD
Intriguing, stimulating, disturbing – this music is all these. Arnold’s orchestral palette is all jewelled colours but his treatment is diamond hard. Any warmth or lyricism in the Third Symphony is derided by twittering woodwind and pounded by snarling brass or hammering percussion. Throughout, the brass sonorities are remarkable – particularly in the Fourth Symphony where, again, the attractive melodies are constantly under attack. Hickox and the LSO are splendid. Ian Lace
Arnold: Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4
Intriguing, stimulating, disturbing – this music is all these. Arnold’s orchestral palette is all jewelled colours but his treatment is diamond hard. Any warmth or lyricism in the Third Symphony is derided by twittering woodwind and pounded by snarling brass or hammering percussion. Throughout, the brass sonorities are remarkable – particularly in the Fourth Symphony where, again, the attractive melodies are constantly under attack. Hickox and the LSO are splendid. Ian Lace
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:33 pm