Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(Leader, Oscar Lampe )
Conductor
Sir Thomas Beecham , Bt.
Clara Haskil (piano)
Rene Ie Roy (flute) Lily Laskine (harp)
Part 1
Richard Arnell , who was born in London in 1917, studied composition with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music, and went to America in the early summer of 1939 in the belief that there was a wider field of opportunity there than here. He was unable, for health reasons, to serve in the U.S. Army, and in the last eight years he has written forty-nine works, including three symphonies. two cantatas (one of which. The War God, is shortly to be recorded), two concertos and overtures. three string quartets, music for The Land, a documentary film by Robert Flaherty , and a ballet, Punch and the Child, commissioned by the Ballet Society of New York and due for production there next January.
Arnell, who is now In London and Intends to settle here, tells me that although the work to be heard tonight is the first of his three symphonies, it is not by any means his first orchestral work. Unlike his other two symphonies, it is scored for a small orchestra, consisting of single woodwind, two horns, and strings. It was completed four years ago and Bernard Hermann conducted it for the Columbia Broadcasting System in January 1944; the following March it received its first concert performance, when it was directed by Sir Thomas Beecham. to whom it is dedicated. This will be the first time any work by Arnell has been given in England.
HAROLD RUTLAND