Underrated Classical Music: Malcolm Arnold Symphony no 5

 

One of the problems the Arnold symphonies have is that works those dence need really perceptive performers who perform with conviction, integrity, and intelligence. Arnold's own performances of the symphonies were perhaps a little beyond his orchestras - they played precisely, but they didn't 'get' the music. The same goes for a lot of early performances under full-time conductors, a number of whom were extraordinarily skilled and gifted.

Richard Hickox 'got' this music. He is perhaps the greatest orchestral conductor to start as a choral conductor, really got it. It's such a shame he couldn't get his health together and passed away at 60, because he would have a major appointment by now and be acknowledged by now as a true international master.

And so does the modern LSO. However good British orchestras were fifty years ago, they're better now. It's difficult to explain, but the old British orchestras didn't understand what Arnold was trying to convey in his music. They probably heard music which was neither modern nor romantic, and they became tentative and confused. However accomplished technically, the old recordings lack direction and assurance. But few orchestras have played more styles of music at this point than modern full-time London orchestras, and they probably understand the idiom of any underrated British composer on sight.

Hickox guides the LSO to play the romantic passages romantically and the modern passages modernly. The romanticism sings with over the top passion, the modernism crunches with confrontational abrasion.

The 5th has gotten more attention than virtually any Arnold symphony, and this will not be the last we feature. It's a memorial of four friends who died young, and it is a truly moving work when the musicians can explain it to us - full of all kinds of emotional pain, but also nostalgia and good humor. There was no expressive mode Arnold could not reach, we just need to understand what he's expressing.

Sadly, the Hickox recordings are only on youtube in piecemeal form, so I will share them link by link in the comments.