Padstow Lifeboat, The

Malcolm Arnold

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This work bears the designation Opus 94.

General Info

Year: 1966
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Brass Band
Publisher: Studio Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00 | Score Only (print) - $22.00

Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

This march was written in 1966 to celebrate the opening of the new Padstow lifeboat station in the county of Cornwall. The music describes a lifeboat on an errand of mercy, assisted by warning signals from the lighthouse on the shore. Although the area in influenced by the tempering Gulf Stream and is known as the "Cornish Riviera," the storm-lashed west coast can be hazardous to passing ships during periods of low visibility. In a 1984 interview with Kevin Thompson, Malcolm Arnold stated, "Of all my brass and band pieces, it is Padstow Lifeboat which I like best."

- Program Note from March Music Notes

This marvelous march is full of the wit and humour that characterizes the music of one of Britain's greatest living composers. Padstow is a coastal village in Cornwall in the west of England, and whilst Arnold was writing this march he constantly heard the sound of the foghorn which is clearly depicted throughout the work.

- Program Note from publisher

The Padstow lifeboat has a long, heroic and distinguished record. The new lifeboat station is near Trevose lighthouse, whose foghorn varies in pitch between middle C and D. For the sake of musical unity it remains D throughout this march.

- Program Note by Malcolm Arnold

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I

Performances

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Appalachian State University (Boone, N.C.) Symphony Band (Kevin Gray Richardson, conductor) – 24 February 2019
Strongsville (Ohio) Community Band (Ken Menalko, conductor) – 10 November 2017
The Indiana Wind Symphony (Carmel) (Nathan Voges, conductor) - 22 April 2017
California State University, Long Beach, Wind Symphony (John Alan Carnahan, conductor) – 28 April 2016

Works for Winds by This Composer

Brass Quintet No. 2 (1987)
Concerto for Oboe and Strings (arr. Watts) (1952)
Divertimento for Wind Octet (1988)
English Dances, Book One (tr. Johnstone) (1950/1965)
English Dances, Book Two (tr. Herbert) (1951/1989)
English Dances, Book Two (tr. Sudduth)
English Dances Set 2 (tr. Thompson)
Fanfare for a Festival (arr. McDermott) (1955/1986/2000)
Fanfare for Louis, 1970
Four Cornish Dances (tr. Marciniak)
Four Scottish Dances (tr. Paynter) (1957/1978)
Four Welsh Dances (tr. Parkes)
A Grand, Grand Overture (tr. Wilson)
H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge (1957)
The Inn of Sixth Happiness (arr. Suzuki) (1958/)
March from "A Little Suite" (arr. Sumner) (1955/1965)
Overseas
The Padstow Lifeboat, op. 94
Peterloo Overture (tr. Sayre)
Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo (tr. Paynter) (1963/1979)
Quintet for Two Trumpets, Horn, Trombone and Tuba (1961/2004)
River Kwai March, The (1957)
Sarabande and Polka from Solitaire (tr. Paynter)
Symphony for Brass, op. 123
Symphony No. 2: Allegretto and Vivace, op. 40 (tr. Parkes)
Symphony No. 2: Finale, op. 40 (tr. Sudduth)
Tam O'Shanter Overture, op. 51 (tr. Paynter)
Three Sea Shanties (1943)
Trevelyan Suite, op. 96
Variations on a Theme of Ruth Gipps (trans. Braddock) (1978/2019)
Water Music, op. 82

Resources

Arnold, M. (1967). The Padstow Lifeboat: March: Op. 94 [score]. Henrees Music: London.
Sir Malcolm Arnold website
Smith, Norman E. (1986). March Music Notes. Lake Charles, La.: Program Note Press, pp. 19.