Arnold - Grand Concerto Gastronomique, Symphony no.9 | Toccata Classics TOCC0613

Arnold - Grand Concerto Gastronomique, Symphony no.9

£13.25

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Label: Toccata Classics

Cat No: TOCC0613

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 1st October 2021

Contents

Artists

Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie (soprano)
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

John Gibbons

Works

Arnold, Malcolm

Grand Concerto Gastronomique, op.76
Symphony no.9, op.128

Artists

Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie (soprano)
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

John Gibbons

About

These two works present two sharply contrasting sides of Malcolm Arnold: his limitless resources of knockabout fun, and a sense of existential tragedy. But each score presents its own surprises: the jocularity of the Grand Concerto Gastronomique – written for a Hoffnung concert – conceals some seriously good (though not seriously serious) music; and the delicately scored Ninth Symphony, written after five years when its composer had, in his own words, ‘been through hell’, irradiates its emotional restraint and elegiac tone with moments of light and warmth.

“For the 1961 Hoffnung Astronautical Music Festival Arnold composed Grand Concerto Gastronomique for Eater, Waiter, Food and Orchestra. It had not been performed since. John Gibbon said we all had to hope for the best as it was not possible to rehearse the work as the eater could never manage two meals in such a short time! … During the music the eater eats a full meal, timing each course to the music starting with oysters, and then soup carried in by a trembling waitress slopping it out of the dish and onto the floor. While imbibing heavily and ogling the waitress, the main course of roast beef was taken. When the waitress returns with the Peach Melba the eater is now openly peering down her cleavage and by coffee she is sitting on his knee. A cheese trolley is wheeled on bearing a huge chunk of cheese which explodes as she tries to slice it. Make of that what you will! By now members of the orchestra are passing round glasses of wine and a platter of cheese and grapes. The conductor has his own table with a cup of coffee. At the end of the meal the eater leaves but infuriates the waitress by not leaving a tip. This work had disappeared without trace.” – Len Mullenger (Seen and Heard International)

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