Martin Ellerby has told 4BR that he felt ‘very happy’ with the way in which the vast majority of conductors and bands met the challenges of his ‘Malcolm Arnold Variations’ test piece on the weekend at Cambridge.

Lovely day

"I had a lovely day – a real treat to listen to 21 performances of the work," he said. "I was very happy with bands and how they went about the work, although there were a few that missed the real musical challenges that it set. I thought more bands had problems with Elgar Variations than they did with this."

I wrote it in a way to try and capture the idiosyncrasies and mannerisms of Arnolds writing – but not as direct quotes – it was more symbolic and suggestive at times, and those that were successful, I felt, managed to do thatMartin Ellerby

Puzzled

Martin was a bit puzzled however that it was reported that many conductors found the style of the writing difficult to overcome. "Technically the piece wasn’t immensely difficult but I think musically it was. The answers to how to approach that aspect could be found though very clearly in Arnold’s works – and I did direct them to look at a whole host of them for help."

Style

The composer also felt that the essence was to try and capture the style. "I wrote it in a way to try and capture the idiosyncrasies and mannerisms of Arnolds writing – but not as direct quotes – it was more symbolic and suggestive at times, and those that were successful, I felt, managed to do that."

Champagne

Martin wouldn’t be drawn on the results as such but made oblique reference to a couple of performances. "The winners were very much a fine champagne type of Arnold performance, whilst a couple of others were more a beer down the local pub. Malcolm enjoyed both, but sometimes liked the latter more than the former."

Future

As for the future? "I just hope the piece is used again, and that people can now explore Malcolm Arnold’s music more readily. It was a lovely day, despite the weather!"