The 21st Malcolm Arnold Festival takes place in the composer’s home town of Northampton on Saturday October 24, with a free livestream following on Sunday November 1. Arnold was born in Northampton in 1921 and attended Northampton School for Boys, whose Cripps Hall hosts the day’s concerts.
The festival features the world premiere of Arnold’s unfinished Violin Concerto, performed by Elif Cansever with the Albion Orchestra under Stone Tung. The programme also includes the Anniversary Overture, Larch Trees and Water Music. Festival President Julian Lloyd Webber opens the day at 11am. Arnold wrote his Fantasy for Cello for Lloyd Webber and declined a commission fee, describing the music as “a gesture of friendship”. Lloyd Webber’s wife, Jiaxin Cheng, performs the work, followed by a talk and Q&A with Lloyd Webber. Arnold’s Cello Concerto, published by Novello, is also dedicated to Lloyd Webber.
Elsewhere in the day, “21 Today!” presents music Arnold wrote at the age of 21, including the Wind Quintet Three Shanties and the 1942 Piano Sonata, played by Sabina Suciu. Roger Coull, Nicholas Roberts and Lynn Arnold perform chamber works including the Piano Trio, Op. 54 and Violin Sonata No. 2, and Towcester Studio Band plays a programme of Arnold’s brass music. Flautist Ivan Lazebnyi and pianist Maria Matveeva play a programme of Arnold’s flute works.
The Gala Concert at 7.30pm at St Matthew’s Church features the Northampton Symphony Orchestra under John Gibbons. They perform Arnold’s Philharmonic Concerto, Little Suite No. 3 (“A Manx Suite”) and The Sound Barrier Rhapsody, alongside Ruth Gipps’s Oboe Concerto with soloist Emmet Byrne. Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and Symphony No. 9 open and close the programme.
