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Posted by Paul Serotsky on January 19, 2006, 9:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Malcolm Arnold's 5th Symphony - a masterpiece?" The Fifth Symphony is arguably Arnold's masterpiece but, to my mind, every one of his nine symphonies is A masterpiece. To pre-empt the inevitable pedant (which, if I hadn't been writing this, might possibly have been me!), there is nothing contradictory in that. A composer's masterpiece is the finest work that he has written, whereas "a" masterpiece is any work that is outstanding in relation to the entire corpus of works (here I'm paraphrasing the Oxford Reference Dictionary). In many ways, Arnold's symphonies are fully the equal of, say, Shostakovich's, never mind the likes of Bax. One the one hand they can be enjoyed at the most superficial level, purely as titillation for the viscera, and on the other, for anyone prepared to rummage around under their often gaudy surfaces, they can do unspeakable things to just about any organ you care to imagine. Why, then, are they still not generally recognised as "great" music? The answer to that is simple: they lack the opportunity to prove themselves on the concert platform, and in particular on the "major" concert platforms. Wherever they are performed, audiences adore them. However, practically all performances are given by provincial, and especially amateur, organisations. If, like Tony, those who dictate what is heard at major venues swallowed their prejudices and REALLY gave the music a chance, then there'd be a hot time in the old town tonight!
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I am over the moon to hear that Tony took my "advice". What a pity that a certain "Controller of BBC Proms", amongst certain influential others, seems incapable of following Tony's example!
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