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Special Thanks to Anthony Day, Fiona Southey, Alan Poulter and Richard Sandland
and to also to;

Malcolm Arnold
the Malcolm Arnold Society
The Complete Brass
Chamber Music
and many of its members who have all helped make this project happen:
Steve Aubrey Lady Patricia Gibberd
Fine Arts Brass
Dr Colin McCarthy Rev Don Sparkes
Joe Mendoza Gerhard & Annette Van Der Griten
Frank and Queenie Brand Mary Watkinson
Tony & Heather Meredith Paul Henderson
Piers Burton- Page Eddie White
Kevin and Kathy Oxlade David Martin Hewlett
David and Wendy Clark Dr Philip Wood
John Clifford Graham Frudd
Linda Page Alan Jenkin
Tony Cooper Rod Youngman
Sir Alan and Lady Peacock Geoff & Sue Kindon
Ron Court Günther Kogebehn
Eric Dickinson Keith & Margaret Llewellyn
Neil & Marion Richmond Trevor Lockwood
David Dunstan Howard Lorriman
Dr Howard Sowerby W N Lumley

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In 1987 I wrote my Quintet for Brass No 2 for the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble. I Fine Arts Brass, now in its twenty-sixth year, is firmly established at the forefront of the
am absolutely delighted therefore that this fine group of musicians have now international brass chamber music scene. Originally formed in 1980, the ensemble took
recorded this piece, along with many of my other works for brass ensemble, for the name of the place of its first rehearsal, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts at
Birmingham University. The group’s enduring success is due to its uncanny chameleon-
the Nimbus label. The artistry and commitment that this group bring to their
like adaptability to different audience requirements. These can range from educational
performances is truly exceptional. concerts for primary school children to broadcasts suitable for BBC Radios 2, 3 or 4. With
the combination of their unique versatility of sound, eminent humour and passion for
Sir Malcolm Arnold, - August 2006 the music they play, it is easy to see why they have toured to over 60 countries and
performed in just about every music festival in the UK.

Their repertoire is as comprehensive as you would expect from such artists,

encapsulating all musical genres from the Renaissance and Baroque to the sound worlds
of the Avant Garde. Equally, when they play Swing, they swing!

They also have a penchant for commissioning new works (over 50 to date) and have
enjoyed working closely with the composers who have written for them: Malcolm
Sir Malcolm Arnold Arnold, Robin Holloway, Michael Nyman, John Woolrich & Michael Torke to name but
a few. Their discography is no less impressive with a selection of over 30 recordings to
The Complete Brass Chamber Music date. In the words of Classical Music Magazine, they are simply “Exceptional”. FAB
receives financial support from the PRS Foundation and is proud to be associated with
Smith-Watkins trumpets and Nimbus Records.
Fine Arts Brass More information can be found at www.fineartsbrass.co.uk
Simon Lenton • Angela Whelan, trumpets
Tim Thorpe, horn • Katy Pryce, trombone
Sam Elliott, tuba
with Bryan Allen & Andy Culshaw, trumpets
Simon Hogg, Kevin Pitt & Lyndon Meredith, trombones
Stephen Roberts, conductor

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instrument, a similar series to Berio’s Sequenzas, but with very different effect. Single- 1 Fanfare for Louis (1970) 2.07
line music is often difficult to listen to, at the worst one can feel like an intruder on Simon Lenton & Angela Whelan
private practise time, observing the performance of technical studies in public. Such is
the skill of Arnold’s characterisations that this “pedagogic” feel is entirely absent from Brass Quintet No 1 Op. 73 (1961) 12.23
his Fantasies. The trumpet fantasy is unsurprisingly dedicated to Arnold’s first teacher, 2 I Allegro Vivace 4.22
Ernest Hall of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 3 II Chaconne 4.41
4 III Con Brio 3.20
Traditional Brass Bands were very much part of Malcolm Arnold’s youth (although born
in Northampton not Yorkshire), and he often chose to compose for them over the years. 5 Fantasy for B flat Trumpet Op. 100 (1969) 3.46
The Little Suites for Brass were all originally composed in part-song forms of five Angela Whelan
voices, reflecting Arnold’s interest in folk songs and dances, and as a result they
Little Suite for Brass No. 1 Op. 80 (1963)* 7.37
transcribe easily for a solo brass quintet. The clarity of five individual voices is just as
6 I Prelude 2.03
effective in this music as the doubling and trebling of lines heard in their original
7 II Siciliano 3.27
versions for brass band, or the subsequent arrangements made for orchestra, military-
8 III Rondo 2.07
band and wind-band.
9 Fantasy for Horn Op. 88 (1966) 4.18
Arnold’s music has always formed a substantial part of FAB’s repertoire. It has the Tim Thorpe
ability both to delight our audiences and continually inspire the members of Fine Arts
Brass - 26 years on. We will never forget a concert in Enugu, Nigeria during our tour Little Suite for Brass No. 2 Op. 93 (1967)* 6.38
there in 1996, watching the entire audience dancing to the third movement of the 1st 10 I Round 2.07
quintet! 11 II Cavatina 2.56
Programme notes © 2006 Richard Sandland & Simon Lenton 12 III Galop 1.35

13 Fantasy for Trombone Op. 101 (1969) 3.13

Katy Pryce

Little Suite for Brass No. 3 Op 131 (1987)* 2.25

14 I Giubiloso 1.42
15 II Allegretto 1.58
16 III Vivace 1.45

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The third movement has hints of his later orchestral music, especially the Irish Dances
17 Fantasy for Tuba Op. 102 (1969) 4.32 that had been completed two years earlier, but where the first quintet ends with
Sam Elliott trumpeters flying about in imitative semiquavers, the second ends with quiet octave
Brass Quintet No. 2 Op. 132 (1987) 5.35 unisons. Arnold knows just how difficult this is to achieve. In No.2, he is testing
18 I Vivace 1.19 different, more mature, elements of brass technique. “Why write No.1 again?” indeed,
19 II Lento 2.34 especially if you have the courage to confound the huge expectations of the brass
community.
20 III Vivace 1.42

Symphony for Brass Op. 123 (1978) 23.44 Back in 1988, Arnold was adamant that he would write Quintet No.3. Time moves on,
Stephen Roberts, conductor however, and it became evident that the tantalising promise wouldn’t come to fruition.
Fine Arts Brass Quintet with Bryan Allen & Andy Culshaw, trumpets Arnold perhaps lost what Bax once called “the devil within” that compelled him to
Simon Hogg, Kevin Pitt & Lyndon Meredith, trombones write. In any case, he had really nothing left to prove. He and FAB kept in touch, and
21 I Allegro Moderato 7.45 met regularly, with Arnold travelling to concerts whenever FAB played his music.
22 II Andante Grazioso 4.59
23 III Andante con Moto 5.15 The Symphony for Brass (1979) was originally written for the Philip Jones Brass
24 IV Allegro con Brio 5.45 Ensemble and like the 2nd quintet was also premiered at the Cheltenham Festival. This is
a major work written at a time when Arnold was the ‘Grand Old Man’ of British music
– in a direct line from Vaughan Williams, via Bax, Walton and Tippett - but also at an
Total playing time 79.21 especially dark and traumatic time in the composer’s life. From 1972 he lived in Ireland,
but his time there was brought to a close when he suffered a complete breakdown and
eventually returned to London in December 1977. One only needs to hear the opening
few bars of the third movement to get the general idea of his state of mind. The
Symphony for Brass expands the range of players beyond the quintet medium, and
Arnold uses his larger forces with brilliance. This is physically & emotionally
Cover photograph of Sir Malcolm Arnold © Sean Be, courtesy The Scotsman Publications Ltd demanding music, and an exhilarating listen throughout its four movements - the last
Sir Malcolm Arnold is published by Faber Music Limited. of which culminates in a double fugue. FAB founder and horn player, Stephen Roberts
* Little Suites for Brass, transcribed for this recording by Simon Lenton
Recorded by Nimbus Records at Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
joins us to conduct the Symphony on this recording.
Symphony for Brass on 2 April, Quintets and Fantasies on 6 & 7 June, 2006
 2006 Wyastone Estate Limited © 2006 Wyastone Estate Limited The other end of the scale of Arnold’s expressive capabilities is apparent in the Fantasies
for trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba. Arnold has written a Fantasy for every orchestral

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conceived for; trumpets sound like trumpets and tubas sound like tubas. Perhaps The Complete Brass Chamber Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold
Arnold had listened so intently to all the orchestral instruments during his time as a
trumpeter in the London Philharmonic Orchestra that he finds it difficult to write in an This disc marks a dual celebration. It is the first collected recording of the whole Brass
un-idiomatic way for any of them - he is undoubtedly a master of orchestration. Chamber Music output of Sir Malcolm Arnold released during the composers 85th year.
Arnold’s first quintet was written in 1961 for the New York Brass Quintet. It has dashing But it also marks a coming together for the first time of almost the entire current and ex-
semiquavers in the outer movements with quasi-jazz inflections and harmonic personnel of Fine Arts Brass over the past 26 years to record Arnold’s Symphony for
scrunches and resolution. And yet there is the darker side of Arnold too in the central Brass.
Chaconne (featuring a notorious trombone cadenza), a darkness that echoes the mood
evident in many of the slow movements of Arnold’s nine symphonies; he is not merely Arnold himself was a fine trumpeter in his younger years before turning to the career
a pyrotechnician. he always knew he was destined for as he said himself, ‘composers are born - not made.’
He was inspired to take up the trumpet initially after hearing Louis Armstrong on
FAB and Arnold have met on many occasions over the years. So much so that he was record and then live in Bournemouth during the 1930s. He won a scholarship to the
considered in the early days to be a ‘closet fan’ of the group as he’d just turn up at Guildhall in 1935 and travelled to London every Saturday to study with ‘the finest
concerts unannounced. It was on one such occasion that FAB founder and trumpeter trumpet teacher there has ever been’ Mr Ernest Hall. Later, Hall recommended him to
Bryan Allen suggested that he might write a piece for the group. Thinking that the great the Royal College of Music but he dropped out two years later citing the fact that ‘they
man wouldn’t have time to write a second quintet they asked him for a ‘short, 2nd half didn’t teach you to play like Louis there’. Malcolm Arnold never lost his enthusiasm for
opener’ lasting around five minutes. The result was a five-minute brass quintet in three the trumpet and often carried his mouthpiece with him - just in case. He always
movements called Quintet No.2! This generated much interest at the time from the maintained that meeting and hearing Armstrong formed the biggest influence in any
media and so shortly before the premiere at the 1988 Cheltenham Festival, FAB joined music he wrote and so it’s no surprise that he composed his Fanfare for Louis for
Arnold for a TV documentary about his life and also about the genesis of this second Armstrong’s 70th birthday in 1970.
quintet. As the camera panned around the ensemble the maestro, in ‘Grand Old Man’
mode, indicating each player in turn, intoned “I wrote it for you…and you…and Arnold and FAB go back a long way; indeed, if you should ever find a vinyl LP or
you…and you…and you”. It is this personal quality, axiomatic in the best chamber cassette tape of the Ensemble’s first recording, Pastime With Good Company, you will find
music that Arnold’s idiom encompasses. He is a musical dramatist, arranging and on it one of Arnold’s favourite versions of his Quintet No1. This is perhaps the classic
directing his characters through his argument; this is why his structures are so clear, his essay in the form. Across the globe every brass quintet of note has recorded it; every
landscapes so defined. And he is honest, too; he acknowledged that No.2 was as far student ensemble has been coached through it and every brass competition has at some
from No.1 as it could be. There are, deliberately, fewer fireworks; “why write No.1 point featured it in a syllabus. And it’s not hard to see why; it’s the sort of piece that
again?” he said. There are, though, superficial likenesses; the 2nd movement is once more seems familiar, even on first hearing. It is this quality of inclusiveness, of absolute,
a Chaconne, although trombonists can relax this time. The first movement keeps us instant but yet profound communication that accounts for its long life. It represents the
guessing – is it a fanfare that is just a bit too long, or a minuet that is just a bit too short? mature Arnold style in microcosm; the music “fits” the instruments that it was

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Simon Lenton, Angela Whelan, Bryan Allen, Andy Culshaw,Tim Thorpe, Stephen Roberts, Richard Sandland, Sam Elliott, Lyndon Meredith,
Kevin Pitt, Simon Hogg and Katy Pryce at the recording session of Symphony for Brass, Wyastone April 2006.