Arnold: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8

Malcolm Arnold (Composer), Andrew Penny (Conductor), National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
• Conductor: Andrew Penny
• Composer: Malcolm Arnold
• Audio CD (September 18, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00005N8CT
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,345 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a new favorite, September 19, 2002

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arnold: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 (Audio CD)

A little over a year ago, I knew almost nothing about Malcolm Arnold or his music. Then I encountered Naxos' CD of Arnold's symphonic dances. I was very impressed. Since Naxos really doesn't take too much of a bite out of your wallet, I moved on to Andrew Penny's recordings of his Symphonies. I am officially in awe. This music places Arnold and his music right up there with Mahler and Vaughan Williams (it doesn't really get any higher) in my own Imaginary Musical Hall of Fame.

These two later symphonies, the 7th and 8th, are full of invention and fire. All that is great about the best 20th century music is rolled into these two monuments of sound.

The Seventh, which is dedicated to the composer's children, is a fantasia of quite varied musical styles woven together by a master's hand. This is what Mahler's music might have been had he lived in the British Isles during the 20th century (though I doubt even Mahler would have been this bold). Everything from ragtime (Shostakovichesque) to flat-out Celtic music finds its home somewhere in the 7th.

In contrast, the Eighth features some of the best writing for trumpet that I have ever heard (Arnold is himself a trumpet player). The Eighth has also been called the most Irish of his symphonies. Yet what struck me most was the Stravinsky-like woodwind music that highlights the piece.

Both of these pieces could easily have dissolved into something much less than the sum of their parts. They do not. This, to me, bespeaks the hand of an able conductor and a responsive orchestra. Andrew Penny and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland deserve a lot of credit for this wonderful disc as well as the impressive nature of the cycle as a whole.

I highly recommend this disc.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, January 29, 2011

By 

T. Strokes "T.B." (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arnold: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 (Audio CD)

I purchased the individual Naxos series CDs of Arnold symphonies 1+2, 3+4, 5+6, 7+8,9 and found the orchestra performances and recordings* were outstanding.

*My only disappointment of the series was the CD of the 9th. The spoken word is just too low. If you crank the volume up enough to hear the interview you'll potentially blow out your speakers when the music examples are played. I gave up (in my car) trying to manage the severe audio level changes.