A Grand, Grand Overture - Last Night of the Proms 09

[KITCHENOFDISTINCTION]

Malcolm Arnold is one of the great musical geniuses of 20th music, no matter what the classical music snobs may say.

[gjyyngii]

Three vacuum cleaners, four rifles, and a floor polisher.

[johncharnley1]

If Beethoven saw this and the vacuum cleaners he'd probably throw them out the window cos he was quite violent wasn't he even for a few flat notes.

[fjshepherd123]

The description isn't accurate - Stephen hough was on vacuum cleaner and Goldie was on rifle

[pinkvespa95]

Was this at the Royal Alber Hall?

[kissebb]

@pinkvespa95 YES :)))

[Flutist11]

Beat that, John Cage! ;)

[mrsneaky2010]

I wonder if they had to clean the stage after the orchestra left!!!..

[avakrob]

A genius of a composer.... completely underrated... whilst Britten is overrated if you ask me.... Arnold is the author of brillantly orchestrated symphonic works, heaped with original ideas... same goes for Walton, incidentally... but both are rarely recorded nowadays.... it's Britten everywhere you turn... I don't understand....

[magicalfairiesmoon]

I just watched a great little English Thriller THE CHALK GARDEN with Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills which Arnold Scored and I had to listen to more of his quirky delightful music! An absolute joy!

[rockislandred]

Really nice. If it wasn't for Gerard Hoffnung and his music festivals in the late 50's Peter Schiekele probably wouldn't have a career. Yes, the hoovers (and the shotguns) are part of the score.  I believe both the Hoffnung version of Handle's "Suprise Symphony" is available on You Tube

[TheHamsterface]

Lol the guy in the red jacket on the hoover looks like he's w***ing off that hoover at 3'21!

[leporello56]

are the hoovers actually in the score or were they just added for this?

[DHWOO]

@leporello56 In the score :)

[HoRnSrOcK8D]

Man i bet its a true honor to be first chair vacuum player ;)

[Madhatter1781]

what does the vacuum player/floor polisher players' music look like???

[StringQueen1]

@Madhatter1781 dust bunny cues :)

[bmf91]

We played this in our wind band; great piece of music while being very entertaining!

[BugMagnet]

Lol the vacuum cleaners must be british humor^^

I guess here in Germany the audience would be annoyed by them

and in France they'd probably blow up.

great music btw

[poopingeneral]

@BugMagnet lol loving the name "bugmagnet" ;-)

[BugMagnet]

@poopingeneral it's from the "old days" when I played BF2

[garryph]

Just one correction to the 'credits', above: Stephen Hough and Goldie are reversed. i.e., Hough on vacuum cleaner, Goldie on rifle!

[emilygclarinet]

I'd love to see the score for this piece.

[physphilmusic]

I thought this was premiered in 1956?

[ant501UK]

@physphilmusic Correct! Contrary to the headline above, this piece was premiered on 13 November 1956 as part of the "Hoffnung Music Festival Concert" at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The piano soloist was Yvonne Arnaud and Norman del Mar conducted the Morley College Symphony Orchestra. I still have the boxed set of vinyl LPs (EMI SLS 870) containing this and two later concerts in the same vein.

[ant501UK]

@ant501UK OOPS! Sorry I got that wrong, the soloist and conductor I just named did "The Piano Concerto to end all Piano Concertos", another piece in the concert that night in 1956. The Grand Grand Overture was conducted by the composer, Malcolm Arnold.

[lacrossestar83]

I played this in concert band at fullerton college and it was a lot of fun to play. loved all the fake endings and other musical jokes in it

[jonjamg]

Hoffnung was great! Went to the memorial concert at the Albert Hall and heard many of the pieces from his concerts. Somewhere I have a set of vinyl records of the original concerts - Dame Sybil Thorndike et al The Great Tay Whale and also this "Premiere" Overture!

[Jafuet]

kdy se pan bělohlávek naučil na vysavač?

[alvovc]

This sounds like it should be part of the Simpsons Hit and Run music =) I like it a lot!

[Zorchalate]

It's quite a cool piece as part of it it totally contemporary and atonal but the ending is like that of a Rossini or Verdi Overture. Is this an actual piece or a comedy where they take parts of different pieces and weld them together?? If it's am actual piece, are the guns and vacuum cleaners actually part of the piece??

Matthew Swartz (aka: Zamunda Zorchalate)

[goldengod077]

@Zorchalate It is an actual piece called "A Grand, Grand Festival Overture for Three Vacuum Cleaners, a floor polisher and 4 rifles" by Malcolm Arnold. The funny part about the ending is just how LONG the coda is - with the extended (and i mean extremely extended) dominant chord starting at 5:08 lasting until 5:29. Then he writes as many (cliched) endings as he could. It's a fantastic (and hilarious) piece).

[s63283]

@goldengod077 It is a funny piece of music, and brings to my mind Rossini's overture to "Italiana in Algeri" where he also seems to be having fun with several "cliché" endings taking almost 30 seconds :)

[ignorantpom]

Attenborough's performance is simply exquisite.

[Obstructions]

Holy crap. Go horns! But I must say, professional vacuum players....legit.

[violinguy100]

David Robertson is conducting this.

[XxRockxTomxX]

Who was conducting this?

[violinguy100]

Stephen Hough on a vacuum. LOL

[charade97]

@violinguy100 Which is Stephen Hough?

[Mgglawrence]

@charade97

He's the one in the red jacket playing the vacuum cleaner!

[Bognarfan]

@Mgglawrence

Never seen anything like it before! It's hysterical. You British!!

[Mgglawrence]

@Bognarfan

;-) He he, I love the way the soloists look so serious!

[mtheadedwally]

How refreshing to hear a modern composition which manages to be both Avant Garde yet tuneful and musical, unlike the usual drivellous and down right deploral, pseudo-intellectual minimalism of Reich and the Serialism of Webern. Arnold's work is proof positive that music can be both modern and yet remain true to the beauty of the artform.

[BlueCougar]

@mtheadedwally I hope you are aware that this music is about 60 years late to be avant-garde...

[JeeRant]

I love the frantic V-I progressions at 7:25.

[BritishAlienCompany]

Only at the proms :D x

[jibberjabberman]

simply amazing

[lipkinasl]

Credits wrong in description box. Stephen Hough is playing Vacuum Celaner, and Goldie playing the rifle.

[Robotman42]

Wish I knew how to play the vacuum cleaner

[charade97]

@Robotman42 Easy-if you have a Hoover, it's automatic.

[Robotman42]

Having mulled it over, once I learn it, the next item on the menu will be the Vacuum Cleaner Concerto no. 2.5 by P.D.Q. Bach.

[charade97]

@Robotman42 Easy-just switch it on, put your mouth to the end of the tube, and hang on!

[Harzmov]

This is great! :-D

[littlewingmel]

likes this.

[pljms]

Of course, behind all the high-jinx and musical jokes it's easy to overlook the fact that this a marvellous work wonderfully orchestrated.

[garryph]

@pljms Absolutely.

[Madhatter1781]

@pljms it truly is a grand, grand overture :)

[PeterInglisGuitar]

@pljms Well said !!!

[rickstever999]

wow what an amazing bit of music! i am afraid im a bit of an ignoamis when it comes to these things, but does anyone know if Malcolm Arnold wrote the piece with parts for vacuum cleaners and floor polishers? if so the guy IS a genius. theres not enough household appliances in classical music nowadays.

[DresdenStarwing]

There's another piece, not by the same composer, that uses a typewriter as the main 'percussion'...It's amazing....If you like avant garde instruments, try looking at Stomp. It's a mainly percussive group, but they have an interesting knack for turning every day items into 'instruments'

[robtclements]

LeRoy Anderson - The Typewriter. A piece now retricted to the historical instruments brigade. Of course, when it comes to devilish musical mischief, you can't beat Sir Malcom Arnold. He also wrote the wonderful Padstow Lifeboat Overture (with off-key foghorn) & the United Nations (for orchestra & as many brass bands as there are entrances to the hall)

[egapnala65]

Yes, it was based on a cartoon by Hoffnung and they are in the score.

[TFreckle]

He did. 3 Vacuum Cleaners in Bb and a floor polisher in Eb, I THINK. But it might be different.

[Maestro802]

LOL! Nice to see vibrato deployed on the hoovers. I'll never look at housework the same way again.

[yellowlabrador]

Could you please add Hoffnung to your tags? I'm always looking for his work on the internet as he used to make me laugh so much as a child

[LadyPenny6]

Yes, Im afraid it's Malcolm Arnold's lot to be continuously overlooked or sidelined. Think of all the wonderful music written by this man which never features at the Proms - The English, Scottish and Cornish Dances, the concertos for guitar, horn and flute, the symphonies, particularly the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 8th, and you realize just how much prejudice there is against this man simply because his music is accessible, highly melodic and, worst of all, often very witty.

[Cramnella]

Arnold's day is coming. He is to great a genius - yes, genius - to be ignored.

[RupertJones]

Thanks for the feedback, both decription and tags have been edited to now include Malcolm Arnold & Gerard Hoffnung.

[cl191]

LOL!

[zanpakutogr]

thanks a bunch for uploading this! I've been dying to see how it went (after hearing it on BBC stream)!