When the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland commissioned and then performed Arnold’s Little Suite for Brass No. 1 in 1963, John Wallace and John Miller, now members of the Wallace Collection brass ensemble, were introduced to the enduring power of the music and Arnold himself. Now, more than fifty years after that first immersion, the Wallace Collection is masterminding a complete recording of the composer’s music for brass instruments to coincide with the tenth anniversary of his death in 2016.
The National Youth Brass Band of Scotland conducted by Richard Evans and Russell Gray continue that great institution’s connection with Arnold by recording all of his music for brass band together with a selection of transcriptions. Musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland add performances of Arnold’s delightful occasional fanfares whilst four young soloists at the outset of their careers, chosen through a competition initiated by The Wallace Collection in partnership with the Malcolm Arnold Trust, perform the four fantasies for horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba:
Michael Gibbs - Horn (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama); Illiam Quaine - Trumpet (Royal Northern College of Music); Benny Vernon - Trombone (Royal Academy of Music); Stuart Beard - Tuba (Royal Academy of Music)
The CD will be recorded during 2016 and will be launched through the Wallace Collection/Nimbus Alliance label at the Malcolm Arnold Festival in Northampton in October.
In other recording news, Sony Classical is reissuing the complete Conifer Recordings, an invaluable compendium of much of Arnold’s work. The 11-disc box set will be released in mid-April.