The question had been asked rather or not Malcolm Arnold had been influenced by Leonard Bernstein. I did some researching and was not able to find any mention of this being true. He lists composers such as Hector Berlioz and Mahler as influences, but nothing about Bernstein.
However, Malcolm Arnold was a trumpet player with the London Philharmonic. During World War II, the group was not able to provide a steady conductor, so they had many guest conductors. One of which was Leonard Bernstein. In his book, "The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold" Arnold mentions his experience with Bernstein and says how he remembered him being painfully conceited. I thought that was pretty funny!
As I mentioned, the Arnold Quintet was written in 1961 for the New York Brass Quintet. Not only is it one of my favorite pieces to perform in quintet, but it holds significance as well. The New York Brass Quintet made it a goal to expand literature for quintet and having Arnold compose for the genre is quite an accomplishment. Arnold has composed over 100 scores for films and documentaries. In fact, his composition for Bridge Over the River Kwai, won him an Academy Award. To have a someone who holds "star power" composing for quintet can bring some extra attention.
In addition, this piece is a fantastic standard to have in your quintet repertoire. It is a very versatile piece and can be programmed on concerts and certainly used for a chamber ensemble competition. As I mentioned, it was the first significant quintet I ever performed and has stuck with me ever since.
I have the instrumentation for the Grand Choeur Dialogue I played in Class.
Michael Murray - Organ
Rolf Smedvig - Trumpet
Jeffrey Curnow - Trumpet
Timothy Morrison - Trumpet
Joseph Foley - Trumpet
Martin Hackleman - Horn
Ronald Barron - Trombone
Norman Bolter - Trombone
Scott Hartman - Trombone
Sam Pilafian - Tuba
Neil Grover - Percussion
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