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The Symphony No. 7, Op. 113 by Malcolm Arnold was finished in 1973. It was largely written at Sir William Walton's home La Mortella on Ischia. Each movement is dedicated to each of his three children. The work was commissioned by the New Philharmonia Orchestra and premiered by the composer on 5 May 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall.
The concerto has a dashing first movement marked by jazz memories and a lento whose wistful melancholy also suggests the sentimental lyrical style of the 1930s. The leap from this to the crude whooping and the stomping rhythms of the finale was irresistible. . . Martin Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 12 October 1976
Composed in 1982 Malcolm Arnold's Trumpet Concerto was written to mark the centenary of the foundation of the Royal College of Music. Before devoting himself entirely to composition, Arnold was the principal trumpet in the Philharmonia Orchestra, and his mastery of the instrument is evident throughout this brilliantly compact 12-minute work. 'Contemporary-music-without-tears has always been his aim, and this succinct little three-movement work showed him as skilful as ever in unpretentious directness of utterance, as it were in the vernacular. For the soloist it is a gift, alike in the first movement's almost indispensable fanfare-like challenges, in melody someitmes as nostalgic as Poulenc (especially haunting in the seductively scored central Andante) and in the Finale's flashes of virtuosity.' The Times ( Joan Chissell), 31 January 1983
. . .a brief opening allegro, a slow movement that evolved from lyrical simplicity to portentous emotional gestures, and a finale that was an euberant and affectionate salute to Pre-Goodman Rag. Christopher Grier, Evening Standard, 12 October 1976
This is indeed a substantial piece of music and there is never any doubt it was written by a symphonist. The orchestration is both clever and brilliant. . .a contemporary masterpiece. Schenectady Gazette (USA), 7 May 1979
