Vocal score 057150180X on sale, full score and parts for hire. Errata list available for vocal score (with editorial)

Malcolm Arnold The Return of Odysseus, op. 119 This cantata was commissioned by the School’s Music Association, and first performed in the Royal Albert Hall with the Orchestra of the Royal College of Music, conducted by Sir David Willcocks. The work is very much in Arnold’s tradition of supplying his own brand of “music for use”. Writing with young performers in mind, English poet Patric Dickinson sets the story of Odysseus returning for Penelope in unadorned prose. Most of the work is set in clear, syllabic style, allowing the text to project clearly at all times. The simplicity seems to result, however, not from an obvious effort to compose “watered down” music, but to serve the story in the most direct manner possible.