Peter Maxwell Davies

Unusually for him Davies starts his Bassoon Concerto not with slow music but with speed and brilliance: the opening is a Presto initiated by the strings and only at the entry of the soloist does the tempo relax to thatof a real introduction. Out of this grow a big dancing Allegro. The slow movement begins and ends with a simple song around fantastical ornamentation from the soloist. The finale is again a recitative and dance with a slow coda.The whole work is an immense show of stamina poetry and athleticism for the bassoon set against an orchestra coloured by low wind (alto flute clarinet in A bass clarinet contrabassoon horns).Bassoon part with pianoreduction of the orchestral score.

Davies's feeling for the potency and bravura of the clarinet goes back to works of the 1960s; his concerto for the instrument is predictably a big ranging piece in two linked movements. The first fast with a brief slowintroduction has the soloist in propulsive melodic flights slipping over into florid runs but it is a virtuoso piece for the orchestra especially for the marimba and pair of horns. The Adagio that follows is in the spare cold birdcall-riven style of other recent Davies slow movements exploiting first the clarinet's low register and then at its climax the instrument's high extremes. A cadenza leads to the coda where Davies introduces a Scots tune previously hinted at with which he brings the work to an end in F sharp major.Miniature score.

The solo flute here is kept in high profile by the absence from the orchestra not only of other flutes but also of violins and oboes; in addition the trumpets are used sparingly (they do not for instance play in the slowmovement) so that for much of the time the flute is playing against a mellow ensemble of clarinets horns bassoons and low strings. If this is nevertheless one of Davies's most open-spirited pieces that comes partly from theready flights of the soloist partly from its glockenspiel accompaniments in the outer movements (replaced by ticking claves in the Adagio) partly from the dancing character of so much of the music and partly from the harmonicclarity in a light region not far from C minor.

A superb cycle of 7 songs depicting the hero's stay on Grandma's farm somewhere in the Orkneys one summer. The songs tell of the farm chores nature and ghosts and are arranged for unison voices piano recorders and pitched or unpitched percussion. The songs can be used individually to link in with topic work or performed as an attractive concert item. Recorder part.This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

Work for Flute and Bass Clarinet. 'Veni Creator Spiritus' is one of a series of shorter works written in tandem with a Mass for Westminster Cathedral for liturgical use at Pentecost. Larger performing score available on specialorder: SOS15675

This dreamlike and evocative piece from Peter Maxwell Davies was originally composed for Flute and orchesta. Here it is presented as Flute with Piano reduction and still captures the wonder and sanctuary of the composer's home surrounded by seabirds and seals that fire the imagination in childlike ways evoking images of mermaids and angels. The Flute solo is both tranquil and highly virtuosic and is well supported by the Piano accompaniment. The piecewas first performed in May 1999 at the Royal Concert Hall Dublin.

A dreamlike and evocative work from Peter Maxwell Davies for flute and orchestra. The piece captures the wonder and sanctuary of the composer's home surrounded by seabirds and seals that fire the imagination in childlike ways evoking images of mermaids and angels. Descriptive and inventive orchestral colours support and illuminate the flute solo material that is both tranquil and highly virtuosic. The piece was first performed in May 1999 at theRoyal Concert Hall Dublin.

The Spiders' Revenge is a short music-theatre work (duration about 25 minutes) designed for performance by primary school children. The work was written for Evie Primary School a small rural school in Orkney of about 60 pupils between the ages of five and eleven and was specially devised to enhance an environmental studies project on 'mini-beasts'. All the pupils in the school took part in the first performance. Two children playing in a garden delight in tormenting ladybirds snails spiders and other living creatures who they claim 'have no right to be'. The spiders teach the children a salutary lesson during the course of which they learn a great deal aboutthe ways of these creatures finally recognizing the wonder of the insect world and acknowledging that all 'have their place on the earth'.The songs include simple recorder and percussion parts and guitar chords. Descant recorder part. This is a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.

Unusually for him Davies starts his Bassoon Concerto not with slow music but with speed and brilliance: the opening is a Presto initiated by the strings and only at the entry of the soloist does the tempo relax to thatof a real introduction. Out of this grow a big dancing Allegro. The slow movement begins and ends with a simple song around fantastical ornamentation from the soloist. The finale is again a recitative and dance with a slow coda.The whole work is an immense show of stamina poetry and athleticism for the bassoon set against an orchestra coloured by low wind (alto flute clarinet in A bass clarinet contrabassoon horns).