Malcolm Arnold: Rogue Genius

by Anthony Meredith

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Hardcover

First published September 24, 2004

Reviews

[Philippe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent chronicle of a long and tormented life. Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was a gifted British composer who particularly made a name as symphonist and writer of film music. He left an impressive body of work, including nine symphonies, over twenty concertos, a number of very popular occasional works and countless film scores.

Arnold was most popular in Britain - as a composer and conductor - in the 1950s and 60s but he fell out of favour with the critical establishment because of a style of composing that was seen to be populist and very much against the grain of the avant garde, serialist orthodoxy. Arnold's problematic, self-destructive temperament didn't help to ingratiate him with the critics. Later diagnosed as manic depressive, he was a highly complex personality, extremely generous and confrontational at the same time. Heavy drinking exacerbated the impact of his mood swings and crippled his creative abilities.

So, it's a very mixed picture, most sensitively reconstructed by Anthony Meredith and Paul Harris, that emerges from these pages. The authors have been able to provide us with a not at all uncritical but utterly respectful picture of Arnold. In lesser hands it might easily have spilled over into an unsavoury and superficially sensationalist narrative. The research behind the book seems exemplary; it is littered with footnotes referring to conversations with very many people who knew Arnold intimately and it builds collegially on already available biographical material (including the "official" biography by Piers Burton-Page, now out of print). Beyond documenting Arnold's personal journey, the book also provides a very interesting, wider perspective on mid-to-late 20th century British musical life.

What the book does not offer is a scholarly analysis of Arnold's music. The work is invariably linked to biographic circumstances, associating the musical logic with particular personalities or events in Arnold's life. In my personal opinion this is a rather one-dimensional way of understanding the music. As a complement I would recommend to have a look at Paul Jackson's (The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold: The Brilliant and the Dark (unfortunately a rather expensive volume) which offers more substance when it comes to musical analysis. In addition there is a more music theoretical study available by Raphael Thoene (Malcolm Arnold - A Composer of Real Music. Symphonic Writing, Style and Aesthetics). So we are well catered for elsewhere when it comes to musical analysis.

I have no hesitation to recommend this book without reservation.

[Mark Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

At last, a book that tells the dramatic and troubling story of Malcolm Arnold, a brilliant but unstable composer. The book goes into at times exhaustive detail about Arnold's life and career (and breakdowns), and some of the conclusions about the meanings of some of his pieces of music seem speculative and are not documented, but the importance of this book outweighs its flaws. Arnold was sidelined by the intelligentsia in the 1960s and 70s because his music was not fashionably experimental. But it was the work of a genius, a deeply, even desperately, serious composer who sometimes masqueraded as a clown to hide his vulnerable soul. People need to hear his story and understand that he wrote important music, music which reflects our current world of overlapping high and low culture with startling effectiveness.

The main problem with this book is that it was published at a high price for a limited audience, and it was written before the composer passed away. An updated edition needs to be made and published in paperback at a price that will tempt people who are intrigued by the overflowing personality of Malcolm Arnold's music. The behind-the-scenes story is riveting, and at times disturbing. But it is ultimately inspiring, because it proves that a creative person can use art to survive serious problems. Without a creative outlet, I suspect the bipolar and alcoholic Arnold wouldn't have made it past twenty. But with a staggering gift for creating music, he managed to leave behind decades of fascinating work. It's time for Malcolm Arnold to take his place in the pantheon of great composers.