Arnold's genius was particularly suited to smallscale orchestral works, and every one of these examples shows his orchestral personality at its exuberant best. Beckus the Dandipratt came first, in 1943, a portrait which has the wit of Strauss's Till and the harum-scarum quality of Walton's Scapino. Tam O'Shanter, a brilliantly droll portrayal drawing on the Burns poem, has a spectacular climax bringing an orchestral realisation of bagpipes. The Grand, Grand FestivalOverture, written for a 1956 Gerard Hoffnung festival, is remembered for including parts for four vacuum cleaners and the floor polisher. But this piece isn't just about high spirits; it has a really good tune, too. There's another memorable tune in the vivid Peterloo, which is more of a Lisztian tone-poem.
The brief Anniversary Overture was for a Hong Kong fireworks spectacular, while The Smoke brings a sultry atmosphere in its middle section.
The Fair Field celebrates the Croydon Concert Hall (with its superb acoustics), A SussexOverture is jauntily characteristic, while the Orchestral Flourish, not surprisingly, brings resplendent brass. The lively Robert Kett Overture is a recording premiere. The Chandos recording is of the demonstration class.

Marvellously played, with a truly Arnoldian infectious exhilaration, and the Chandos recording is in the demonstration bracket.

Malcom Arnold's musical response to Burns' Gothic poem is a vivid and lively depiction of the story of Tam, a farmer who, after a night of drinking down the local, encounters a witches' sabbath and has a narrow escape from supernatural peril.