Arnold: The Dancing Master, Op. 34
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MALCOLM ARNOLD
Arnold: The Dancing Master, Op. 34
Eleanor Dennis (sop) Catherine Carby (mezzo) Fiona Kimm (contr) Ed Lyon (ten) Mark Wilde (ten), Graeme Broadbent (bass-bar), BBC Concert Orchestra
[ Resonus / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 25 September 2020
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Originally intended as an opera for television, Malcolm Arnold's collaboration with film-maker and librettist Joe Mendoza, The Dancing Master, Op. 34, was considered too racy for viewers in the 1950s and subsequently rejected for broadcast and largely forgotten. Conductor John Andrews, with the BBC Concert Orchestra and a stellar cast, breathes new life into this operatic gem, here receiving its first recording.
With its cast of larger-than life Restoration caricatures - the trapped heiress, the scheming maid, the over-protective guardian, and the handsome rake - the opera showcases Arnold's taste for exuberant satire and tender Romanticism in equal measure.
"Here's a tonic for a melancholy year: a one-act comic opera by Malcolm Arnold, unstaged in the composer's lifetime and never commercially recorded. Andrews and his collaborators make generous amends in this new recording of what turns out to be an absolute zinger of a score...It all has that bracing, sophisticated freshness so typical of Arnold's music in the 1950s, and Andrews and the BBC Concert Orchestra sound like they're loving every bar: letting it be its own vivid, lively self." Gramophone Editor's Choice November 2020
"This premiere recording from conductor John Andrews, a vivacious cast and BBC Concert Orchestra is dollops of fun, and more besides. Arnold's inventive, eclectic score is vividly brought to life...this is no dismissible pastiche, but a seriously worthwhile addition to the repertoire." BBC Music Award WINNER 2021 - Opera
