MALCOLM ARNOLD’S CONCERTO FOR GUITAR AND ORCHESTRA: GENRE AND STYLISTIC DIMENSIONS

Abstract

The flourishing of guitar art in Great Britain refers to the second half of the 20th century. This period was marked by the emergence of a number of solo and concert-symphonic works for guitar, which became the composer’s response to the performers demand, arising from the rapid spread of this trend in academic concert practice. This article examines Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Op. 67 (1959) – the first work of this genre in the history of English music. Due to the brightness of its thematic material, neoclassical writing style, synthesis of English folklore and jazz, and original orchestration that allows for the natural sound of the instrument, this opus deserves the attention of Ukrainian researchers for further analytical study of Arnold’s works and its introduction into the contemporary national guitar repertoire. The aim of the article is to identify the specifics of the genre in M. Arnold’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Op. 67. Methodology. The study employs a range of methods: the biographical method, aimed at revealing and systematizing the main facts of the composer’s creative life; the genre-stylistic method, used to determine the specific features of the guitar concerto genre in Arnold’s work; the structural-compositional method, aimed at highlighting the peculiarities of formbuilding in the composition; and the interpretative method, related to the analysis of the Concerto from the standpoint of performance principles. Scientific novelty is the first analytical study of M. Arnold’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Op. 67, in Ukrainian musicological research practice. Conclusions. The research established that Malcolm Arnold was the first among British composers who, when turning to the guitar concerto, rejected the traditional clichés associated with this field. Special attention is given to the composer’s use of English folk melodies as an alternative to Spanish ones – the traditional basis of academic guitar music – and to the inclusion of jazz stylistics, which had gained popularity among his contemporaries. The harmonious combination of diverse elements, as musical codes of the past and present, defines the original style of the work under consideration.