JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER - WEBBER AND ATTENBOROUGH PAY TRIBUTE TO ARNOLD

WEBBER AND ATTENBOROUGH PAY TRIBUTE TO ARNOLD

LATEST: Acclaimed cellist JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER and director/actor RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH are among the first stars to pay tribute to late British composer SIR MALCOLM ARNOLD, who died in hospital following a chest infection. Arnold, who won an Oscar for the musical score to the 1958 war movie BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, was famous for film scores including WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND and HOBSONS CHOICE. He also composed seven ballets, nine symphonies and two operas. Lloyd Webber today (24SEP06) hailed him an under-appreciated "genius". He explains, "I think he was a very, very great composer but uneven in his output. "Because he had humour in his music he was never fully appreciated by the classical establishment. Attenborough praised the late composer for his unique character, adding, (He was) full of humour, full of commitment and excitement and involvement, and (he) cared about the films that he did work on and cared about people". Arnold, who died at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in England, leaves behind two sons and one daughter.