''Four Scottish Dances'' ( Op.59) is an orchestral set of light music pieces composed by

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...

in 1957 for the BBC Light Music Festival.

The dances

Arnold's set, or suite, consists of four

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

s inspired by, although not based on, Scottish country folk tunes and dances. Although the individual dances are not titled, each is denoted by a separate tempo or style marking. The composer's notations in the score, including his metronome indications ( M.M.), are: * I. ''Pesante'' (♩ = 104) * II. ''Vivace'' (♩ = 160) * III. ''Allegretto'' (♩ = 96) * IV. ''Con brio'' (♩ = 144) While Arnold did not title the four pieces individually, his music publisher (

Novello & Co Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

) has provided notes, which are often employed by annotators for orchestral and concert programs. The first dance, Novello observes, is "in the style of a

strathspey Strathspey may refer to one of the following: * Strathspey, Scotland, an area in the Highlands of Scotland * Strathspey Camanachd Strathspey Camanachd is a shinty club based in Grantown-on-Spey, Strathspey, Scotland, currently competing in the ...

"; the second, a "lively

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the en ...

." The song-like and graceful third dance evokes "a calm summer's day in the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

"; while the last is "a lively

fling The Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea ( pt, Frente de Luta pela Independência Nacional da Guiné, FLING) was a political movement in Guinea-Bissau. Founded by groups opposed to the Marxist doctrine of Amílcar Cabral and the ...

."Foothill Symphonic Winds (n.d.)
''Music Program Notes: Malcolm Arnold''
Retrieved October 22, 2015. The dances are collectively intended to evoke

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and utilize timbres intended to imitate bagpipes, as well as musical devices such as

and

Scotch snap The Lombard rhythm or Scotch snap is a syncopated musical rhythm in which a short, accented note is followed by a longer one. This reverses the pattern normally associated with dotted notes or ''notes inégales'', in which the longer value preced ...

rhythms. The composer also employs comic elements, such as a "tipsy" middle section in the second dance, in which the ensemble abruptly slows from a lively ''vivace'' to ''meno mosso'' (quarter note = 112), whereupon a single bassoon plays a plodding solo marked by upward and downward slides, or ''glissandi,'' as well as staggering, syncopated rhythms. (

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

employs a solo bassoon for somewhat similar comic effect in the rustic third-movement

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ref ...

— "Merry Gathering of Country Folk" — of his

Pastoral Symphony The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the ''Pastoral Symphony'' (German: ''Pastorale''), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and completed in 1808. One of Beethoven's few works containing explicitly programmatic con ...

.) The first performance was given at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

on 8 June 1957 with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale symp ...

conducted by the composer.

Arrangements

*for

wind band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

by John Paynter, 1978 *for brass band by Ray Farr, 1984 * for

wind quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...

by Hugh Levey, 2022 www.woodwindly.com *for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

by John York *for piano &

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

by David Gedge

Selected commercial recordings

*1959

conducting the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

Everest Records Everest Records was a record label based in Bayside, Long Island, started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music. History The idea for starting a label was related by electronics inventor Harr ...

SDBR 3021 (re-released on Everest 9006). *1979

conducting the

Lyrita Lyrita is a British European classical music, classical music record label, specializing in the works of List of British classical composers, British composers. Lyrita began releasing LP album, LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition f ...

LP and CD: SRCD.201 *1996 Andrew Penny conducting the

Queensland Symphony Orchestra Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra in the state of Queensland. The orchestra is based in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's building in South Bank. The Orchestra is funded by private corporations, the ...

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

8.553526 (''Sir Malcolm Arnold: Dances'')

Of John Paynter's wind band arrangement

*1995

Jerry Junkin Jerry Junkin is an American conductor of wind bands and educator. Junkin serves on the faculty of the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. H ...

conducting the

Dallas Wind Symphony The Dallas Winds (also known as the Dallas Wind Symphony or DWS) is a professional concert band based in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Winds was founded in 1985 by Kim Campbell and Southern Methodist University music professor Howard Dunn. It was or ...

on Reference Recordings RR-66CD (''Arnold for Band'')

References

External links

Malcolm Arnold homepage

HM Records catalogue
* {{Authority control Compositions by Malcolm Arnold 1957 compositions Light music compositions Orchestral suites

The dances

Arrangements

Selected commercial recordings

Of John Paynter's wind band arrangement

See also

References

External links