5 FEBRUARY 1954, Page 11

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's con- cert at the Festival Hall

on January 27th was conducted by Richard Arnell, two of whose works were in the programme. One of these, the ballet suite Punch and the Child, has already been recorded ; but the music, lively and probably effective in the theatre, is not of sufficient intrinsic interest to stand alone. The violin concerto, written in 1940 and bearing the opus number 9, has been twice revised but suffers, like many of this composer's works, from an absence of striking musical ideas. Arnell is a skilled manipulator, he composes with great fluency and apparent ease ; but his material is too often undistinguished in itself and possibly more rigorous self-criticism in the very earliest stages of composition is demanded of him rather than subsequent revision.