Arnold on air

12th October 2006

BBC radio and Classic FM are celebrating the life and work of Malcolm Arnold over the coming weeks in a number of programmes dedicated to his music.

In the week starting October 16, Arnold will be the subject of the long-running BBC Radio 3 series Composer of the Week, with five programmes exploring various aspects of his life, personality and output, and featuring archive and commercial recordings of his music.

From October 16 - 27, as part of its British Symphonies Series, Radio 3’s Afternoon Performance will present the composer’s nine symphonies and other orchestral works in performances by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.

Perhaps the highlight will be the broadcast Arnold’s opera The Dancing Master on what would have been the composer’s 85th birthday, October 21. The work has been specially recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and this will be the first time that the work, written in 1952, has ever been heard in its orchestral version.

Classic FM will present many of Arnold’s most popular orchestral works with an Evening Concert dedicated to him broadcast on October 20.

In addition, a special programme of the BBC Radio 2 series Listen to the Band devoted to Malcolm Arnold will be broadcast on November 17.