The Symphony No. 8, Op. 124 by Malcolm Arnold

Malcolm Arnold

Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain...

 was finished in November 1978

1978 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.-January–April:*January 14 – The Sex Pistols play their final show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom....

. It is in three movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

:

• Allegro
• Andantino
• Vivace

The work was commissioned by the Rustam K. Kermani Foundation and given its first performance in on 5 May 1979, with the Albany Symphony Orchestra

Albany Symphony Orchestra

The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York. The upcoming season will mark the orchestra's 78th....

 conducted by Julius Hegyi

Julius Hegyi

-Reviews:John Rockwell wrote in the New York Times "...it can be flatly said that the best performance was Mr. Hegyi's account of Barber's one-movement symphony, which had its premiere in 1936, was revised in 1944 and championed by Artur Rodzinski and Bruno Walter...

 in Troy, New York

Troy, New York

Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...

. It is the only Arnold symphony to have its premiere outside the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The work was written after Arnold lived in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and features an Irish march prominently. The march originated from the film "The Reckoning" scored by Arnold in 1969.

Commercial recordings

• 1991 Vernon Handley
  Vernon Handley
  Vernon George "Tod" Handley CBE was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, London. He acquired the nickname "Tod" because his feet were turned in at his birth, which his...
  
   and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
  The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
  
   on Conifer Records 74321-15005-2 (re-released on Decca 4765337) (http://www.malcolmarnold.co.uk/biog/arnoldedition.php)
• 2001 Andrew Penny
  Andrew Penny
  Andrew Penny is a conductor born in Hull. He graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music following clarinet studies with Sydney Fell. As a postgraduate he was the first holder of the Rothschild Scholarship in Conducting, studying with Sir Charles Groves and Timothy Reynish...
  
   and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
  RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
  The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
  
   on Naxos Records
  Naxos Records
  Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
  
   8.552001 (http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.552001)
• 2001 Rumon Gamba
  Rumon Gamba
  Rumon Gamba , is an English conductor. He studied music at Durham University, and then went to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis. He became the first conducting student to obtain the DipRAM...
  
   and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on Chandos Records
  Chandos Records
  Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
  
  CHAN 9967 (http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Details06.asp?CNumber=CHAN%209967)