They say forewarned is forearmed.
I don’t ordinarily tease shows this far in advance, but I wanted to direct your attention to a very special program I’ll be presenting on WPRB this coming Thursday in honor of the neglected English composer Richard Arnell.
Friday would have been Arnell’s 100th birthday. Best known for his ballets “Punch and the Child” and “The Great Detective,” he died in 2009 at the age of 91. Puzzlingly, for a composer that was championed by Bernard Herrmann, Virgil Thomson and Sir Thomson Beecham, Arnell remains a marginal figure, a status not at all commensurate with the level of his artistry. Beecham went so far as to characterize him as one of the greatest orchestrators since Berlioz. His soaring melodies and playful syncopations are certainly easy to warm up to, and his symphonies convey real depth.
Thankfully, he lived long enough to witness a recorded revival of his orchestral works, spearheaded by the Dutton Vocalion Records label, with Martin Yates conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic. This occurred toward the very end of his life, and the performances are top-notch.
Interestingly, however, the Dutton team was pipped at the post by the Arizona-based MusicaNova Orchestra, which set down its own recordings of the Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 in August of 2005. These performances have been issued commercially on the Con Brio Recordings label. The orchestra has performed all of the Arnell symphonies, along with the “Sinfonia quasi Variazioni” and “Ode to the West Wind.”
Music director Warren Cohen, who founded MusicaNova in 2003, is a champion of unusual and neglected repertoire. What other orchestra in the United States, especially one so young, can brag about having presented works by Hans Gál, Harald Genzmer, John Ireland, Othmar Schoeck, and Boris Tchaikovsky – and all in one season?
As luck would have it, Cohen divides his time between Phoenix and New Jersey, and his schedule is such that he is able to join me on-air to talk a little bit about his enterprising orchestra, his programming and recording plans, and most especially his experiences with Richard Arnell, both the man and his music. The broadcast will include exclusive concert recordings of Arnell’s Symphony No. 5 and an elegy arranged for string orchestra by Cohen from Arnell’s String Quartet No. 3.
In the coming days, I will also be sharing personal anecdotes on this page, supplied by composer Patrick Jonathan, now living in Malaysia. Jonathan became very close to Arnell late in life, when a master-disciple dynamic quickly deepened into a true friendship.
I hope you’ll continue to check in all this week, as we look forward to the Arnell centenary on September 15, to learn more about this skilled and charismatic composer, and that you’ll listen on Thursday, September 14, from 6 to 11 a.m. EDT, to enjoy a special Arnell marathon on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.
