IDAGIO | Arnold, M.: Ballet Music - Electra / Rinaldo and Armida / Homage To the Queen Suite / Sweeney Todd Concert Suite 5059864155031

Featuring

Rumon Gamba
BBC Philharmonic
Malcolm Arnold

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded using 24-bit technology, which offers a dynamic range up to 48 dB greater and 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings.

Composition History

Malcolm Arnold's first ballet score, Homage to the Queen, was commissioned to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.

Performer Biography

Rumon Gamba, the conductor, was the first conducting student to receive the DipRAM from the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Colin Metters.

Composition History

The ballet Rinaldo and Armida was based on an episode from Torquato Tasso's 1581 poem Ierusalemme liberata, featuring the enchantress Armida and the warrior Rinaldo.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Arnold's score for Electra, which is atonal in places and uses harsh rhetorical gestures, allowed him to explore the darker side of his musical personality.

Historical Context

The premiere of Homage to the Queen occurred six days before Benjamin Britten's Coronation opera Gloriana, after Britten refused to expand danced segments in his opera.

Compositional Technique

A crucial element in the instrumentation of Electra is a nuclear percussion group, including timpani, bongos, timbales, and tom-toms, which imparts a sense of pagan ritual.