If Aaron Copland were English, he’d have been Malcolm Arnold
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the WeeK:
If Aaron Copland were English, he’d have been Malcolm Arnold.
And vice-versa.
Sometimes, on this cornucopia collection of Arnold’s music, the Englishman veers just as Copland did from vast orchestral competence to freshly tinned corn. But just when you think the composer’s not coping, or Copland, Arnold pulls a firecracker out of the woodwind and you begin to understand why some cognoscenti deem him the most underrated British composer of the 20th century….
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
In Czech here.
In your review you mention Aaron Copland won six Oscars. He was nominated six times but won only once, in 1948 for “The Heiress.” His score was so badly manipulated by director William Wyler that he opted not to create a concert suite. (In 1990 Arnold Freed created one with the blessing of Copland’s publisher Boosey & Hawkes.)
Thank you, Peter.
The score might have been manipulated but it’s a terrific film, nonetheless.
Are you saying that Copland
was an obese psychotic alcoholic ?
I acknowledge that Arnold was a genius, but Copland was a greater one.
We played one of Arnold’s sets of dances in a local community band – I forget which one (Cornish?). It was quite a ‘blow’, and had really good tunes. At that time, we had a strong horn section to pull it off. His brass music requires a fair amount of agility – things move like the wind. You would think we were bloody woodwinds or something. I would certainly consider Anrold one of the 20th Century’s better composers.
They are very different. You must have a very shallow understanding of Copland. Besides which, it is Virgil Thomson who led the way in establishing the “American” style of composition, in whose footsteps Copland trod. Arnold has far more range, having composed numerous film scores, and his orchestration is more adept.
Agree w. Bedrich. They are very different. If you make that judgement, you haven’t listened to American classical music. Harumph!!
My own choice for most underrated British 20th C. composer is Sir Arnold Bax.
Malcolm Arnold’s Symphony No.5 is a modern masterpiece and I’m ashamed that I haven’t yet been able to do it.