Malcolm Arnold appears here in Naxos's ongoing British Piano Concertos Series with works for piano (two, three and four hands at one and two pianos) and orchestra, preceded by the delightfully witty Overture: Beckus the Dandipratt. Throughout the disc, Arnold's easy melodic gift and facility with more populist idioms is amply represented and at Naxos' bargain price, this should be self-recommending.
However, I do have one major caveat: the piano used by Phillip Dyson in the Fantasy on a theme of John Field – at over twenty-three minutes, the longest work on the disc – is in very poor condition. It sounds like it hasn't had a tune in a while which makes for a rather unpleasant time in the slow introduction, especially when the theme appears from 3'10, embellished by high Gs which twang painfully. It's less of an issue in the jazzier passages where the 'honky-tonk' tone is more bearable but it is a real shame that such an admirable enterprise could be undermined in this way. Throughout this work Dyson plays well and the Ulster Orchestra under Esa Heikkilä really seem to enjoy their varied role (especially the boisterous horns about nine minutes in). However, no amount of effort or virtuosity can hide the problems with the instrument.
The Field fantasy was recorded in January this year and the rest of the disc was recorded a couple of months later, by which time the instrument had mercifully been tuned, even if still doesn't really sound in tip-top condition. For the duet works, Dyson is joined by Kevin Sargent and their performance of the rather tongue-in-cheek Concerto for Two Pianos (Three Hands) Op. 104 is extremely enjoyable. Composed for the 'legendary three-handed husband and wife team of Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith', it's a highly entertaining work: after a rather solemn opening Allegro Moderato, there's a genuinely touching, bittersweet, jazz-influenced Andante con moto. The finale is a brief but highly entertaining Rumba. Arnold composed it to a Proms commission in the late sixties and seems to have set out to provide and antidote to the prevailing modernism for which he had little sympathy. In his slightly irreverent programme note for the premiere he wrote 'I hope the concerto will sound brilliant and give some pleasure' – that is exactly what it does.
The Concerto for Piano Duet and Strings Op. 32, from 1951, is a rather more serious work but one which nonetheless displays a certain amount of humour from the composer. I particularly enjoyed the evocative Larghetto and the sparky finale even though I rather missed the melodic invention of the three hand work.
In sum, then, this is a respectable disc from Naxos which captures some committed and idiomatic performances of some rarely heard music. It's just a shame that the instrument used by Dyson and Sargent couldn't have been in better condition for the sessions.
By Hugo Shirley