Symphony No. 9, op. 128 was completed in 1986 by British composer Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006). It was the last - and most unusual - of his symphonies. The last movement is as long as the previous three together and is very sparsely scored and bleak. Shades of Mahler and echoes of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. It took me quite a while to get to grips with this symphony, because it is so different from the rest of his oeuvre, but in the end I appreciate it more than anything else he composed. The average playing time is 48 minutes (AllMusic). My version is by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under Andrew Penny on a Naxos CD).
