The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1 [Soundtrack]

Malcolm Arnold (Composer), Kenneth (F. J. Ricketts) Alford (Composer), Richard Hickox (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Richard Hickox
• Composer: Malcolm Arnold, Kenneth (F. J. Ricketts) Alford
• Audio CD (March 15, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000000AQB
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,386 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Walk Down Memory Lane, January 18, 2007

By 

Henry A. Heard (Milton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

I purchased this CD about three years ago primarily for the Bridge on the River Kwai music. I had bought the original soundtrack album very soon after seeing the film (in 1957). The thought of having another copy recorded with modern-day technology made the purchase irresistable. One slightly negative (for me) comment about the music is that this is not a re-recording of the original soundtrack. This is a concert suite arranged by Christopher Palmer. The music is "basically" the same. Mr. Palmer has re-arranged much of it and the sequences of events are out of sync with the original. Apart from these differences the music is still awsome sounding! The other pieces on the disk are all well worth listening to for Arnold enthusiasts. Whistle Down the Wind is charming. The Sound Barrier has that Arnold juxtapositioning of the stern and dramatic with the bubbling and warm-and-fuzzy tunes that he is known for. The Hobson's Choice music has a lot of Arnold's humor in it. Upon first hearing, I thought the music was rather "corny" but repeated listenings have allowed me to find the deeper things in it. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is pure Arnold from beginning to end. The grandiose London Prelude opening, the tender Romantic Interlude section, the stirring and ominous Mountain Crossing, and the "This Old Man" tune at the end make this piece, as well as the entire album, a joy to listen to. If you are a Malcom Arnold fan and would like a sampling of his film music, this CD should meet your needs very well. Five stars!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jolly Arnold jinks, January 17, 2001

By 

K. Farrington (Missegre, France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

This album will be a delight to baby boomers like me who were taken to the movies during the late fifties and sixties to see these films. The films seem a little dated now but the scores of Arnold bring out tear jerking emotion, nostalgic pangs and jolly japes, all in the blink of an eye. The heavyweight David Lean 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' item is probably the movie you are most likely to see repeated on TV; who can forget the defiant and physically broken Alec Guiness standing up to the Japanese Camp Commander? Yet, paradoxically, although the Colonel Bogey March was very popular when the movie was relaeased, it probably will not be the most played item on the CD if you buy it. Arnold's fecund imagination comes into its own with the 'Hobson's choice' with the brilliant orchestral character sketches of the grumpy and drunken Charles Laughton character on the deep brass, or the thrilling optimism as our hero sudenly realises he can make it. The 'Whistle Down the Wind' offerings are sheer musical poetry that underline the pathos we all feel of our lost childhood vision of Jesus and the haunting theme stays in your head a long while afterwards. The 'Inn of the Sixth Happiness' and 'Sound Barrier' items are wonderful and will be enjoyed again and again as Arnold's imagination jumps around the orchestra in its different tones. A brilliant buy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, November 15, 2006

By 

Frank Gierke - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

This music is amazing! I gotta admit that I bought this Cd mainly because of the tracks from "The Bridge on the River Kwai", but all the other tracks are also very good. My personal favorites are "The Bridge on the River Kwai March"( last track of the Bridge on the River Kwai section of this Cd), the Overture/Shoe Ballet from "Hobson's Choice", and the last track on this Cd, the "Happy Ending: Mountain Crossing-the children". That track is one of my favorite pieces of music ever. One comment on the orchestra that is playing it all: They are great. They play really clean, stay on the beat, and I am sure that they play the music just like Sir Malcolm Arnold intended it to sound. The London Symphony Orchestra is doing a great job on this Cd. This Cd rocks and well deserves five stars!