Malcolm Arnold

Malcolm Arnold

Sir Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton on 21st October 1921, the Great-Grandson of William Hawes, the composer and head of all music for the Chapels Royal and St Paul's. His early musical influences came from his mother, a fine amateur pianist and, later, from writing and improvising jazz with his brother and friends.

A lover of the music of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, after meeting him on a family holiday at the Royal Bath Hotel at Bournemouth

Malcolm Arnold took up the trumpet at the age of twelve and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music at sixteen, studying trumpet with Ernest Hall and composition with Gordon Jacob. It was during his second year of study, having already won second prize in the Cobbett Prize for composition,

invitation to join the London Philharmonic Orchestra as second trumpet.

Promotion to principal soon follows and Malcolm Arnold swiftly becomes acknowledged as one of the great trumpeters of the age.

1948, In that year he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship and abandoned professional playing for good in favour of composition.

Commissions flooded in and he became known as one of the most sought after composers of the time, alongside Benjamin Britten and William Walton.

The Third, Fourth and Fifth Symphonies were commissioned and composed during this time, and Arnold wrote concertos and sonatas for players he particularly admired, including the Guitar Concerto for Julian Bream.

He was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth in 1968 and was awarded the CBE two years later. Some fine works, including the Cornish Dances, Sixth Symphony, The Padstow Lifeboat, Viola Concerto and the Concerto for Two Pianos (3 hands), were composed in Cornwall,

The Seventh Symphony, Clarinet Concerto No 2 and the Fantasy on a Theme of John Field all belong to the Irish years. String Quartet No 2, composed for the Allegri Quartet, contains an Irish jig, and music with an Irish flavour can be heard in the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies..

1984, the Symphony for Brass, the ../compositions/op124.phpTrumpet Concerto and the ../compositions/op125.phpEighth Symphony.

Fantasy for Recorder, which was followed by the Irish Dances, Ninth Symphony, Fantasy for Cello and Cello Concerto written for Julian Lloyd Webber, and more. In 1986 he received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Services to British Music, in 1987 the Wavendon All Music Award for Outstanding Services to British Music

Sir Malcolm was awarded a Fellowship of the British Academy of Songwriters and Composers in October 2001,

Sir Malcolm Arnold has composed in almost every genre, for professional and amateur alike, but his catalogue is dominated by his works for orchestra, including nine symphonies, numerous overtures, dances and suites, and music for film.

Oscar-winning Bridge on the River Kwai, composed in only ten days, and Inn of the Sixth Happiness, for which he won an Ivor Novello Award.

A Flourish for Orchestra, Op 112 (1973)

A Grand, Grand Overture, Op 57 (1956)

A Manx Suite (Little Suite No 3), Op 142 (1990)

A Sussex Overture, Op 31 (1951)

Anniversary Overture, Op 99 (1968)

Comedy Overture: Beckus the Dandipratt, Op 5 (1943)

Commonwealth Christmas Overture, Op 64 (1957)

Divertimento for Orchestra, Op 1 (1945)

Divertimento No 2, Op 24 (1950) revised as Op 75 (1961)

English Dances: Set I, Op 27 (1950)

English Dances: Set II, Op 33 (1951)

Four Cornish Dances, Op 91 (1966)

Four Irish Dances, Op 126 (1986)

Four Scottish Dances, Op 59 (1957)

Four Welsh Dances, Op 138 (1988)

HRH The Duke of Cambridge March, Op 60a (1957)

Hobson's Choice - Concert Suite (1992)

Homage to the Queen Suite, Op 42 (1953)

Introduction and Pas-de-deux (1954)

Larch Trees, Op 3 (1943)

Little Suite