Fantasy, Op. 87 - Clarinet Unaccompanied

Between 1966 and 1987, Malcolm Arnold wrote 12 fantasies for solo instruments.  The Fantasy for Clarinet was commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for use in the Birmingham International Wind Competition in 1966.  Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was an English professional orchestral trumpeter who transitioned to being a widely admired composer, in an era of composers being artistically aloof from audiences.  He was also a capable conductor, usually of his own works. 

He composed for virtually all instrumental combinations and was especially active in the field of film music.  He won an Academy Award for Best Original Score of 1957 for The Bridge on the River Kwai.  The Colonel Bogey March, quoted in the film, was written in 1914 by Kenneth J. Alford, pseudonum for Frederick J. Ricketts (1881-1945).

Arnold enlisted in the British Army in 1944, but upon being assigned to a military band he shot himself in the foot.  Success in his work did not keep him from being subject to all manner of personal problems, including suicide attempts during the 1970s.  In 1984 a court assigned him an in-home caretaker, who was his attendant until Arnold's death. 

Arnold wrote for amateurs as well as for professional performers, including British brass bands.  His Padstow Lifeboat March, written for a brass band in 1967, proved to be very successful with the British public, leading to transcriptions for orchestra and for wind band.